


Being A Dhampir

by Angel_Baby01



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dhampirs, F/M, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-29
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-02-08 08:11:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 129,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12860418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_Baby01/pseuds/Angel_Baby01
Summary: “Life is completely normal and super easy.”Said no teenager ever.Being weird comes with the territory for teenagers, what with the raging hormones and devil may care attitudes. But Amaia Abbott has hit the high end of weird when she finds out she is a Dhampir (half human, half vampire). Even stranger is that the Vampires seem to be targeting young Dhampirs, and no one is quite sure why.As a safety precaution, her Great-Grandmother Elizabeth sends Amaia to a small island off the coast of Northern California. There she meets the Hacker, Paige; Quiet Mari, Boisterous Mack, Laid-Back Sammy, and the Green eyed Hottie Vampire Stalker Extraordinaire, Aiden. There, Amaia starts to learn about her Dhampir side and all the things she can do that have always seemed weird around other people seems almost, well normal around her new friends.Her new world is rocked to the core however when a Vampire attacks the island, and more to the point, targets Amaia.Now they have to figure out the who, what and why before someone gets hurt.Or worse, killed.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is an original work that was briefly published on Amazon. It has since been taken down since I would rather share it around for free and get people's honest reactions. This work is complete so I will be posting all the chapters one at a time. So the more you comment, the faster they come! 
> 
> Please comment and kudo if you feel like it!

Elizabeth Abbott tapped her manicured fingers against the top of the pretty little table that stood in her foyer, holding a very disturbing letter. She had made it her business to keep in touch with her brethren and the most recent letter from her friend Amy was that Dhampirs were being targeted worse than before. Vampires would think nothing of grabbing the Dhampir and snapping their neck, if they were alone. But now it was starting to sound like the Vampires were getting more daring. Amy thought there was something on the wind, and Elizabeth had to agree with that statement. Something had changed in the Vampire Covens that now had them stirred up in a way they had not been before. Was it possible that leadership had changed? Did the Vampire King finally crawl off into a hole and die somewhere? Doubtful, Elizabeth knew from history that the Vampire King (who was the first Vampire), had been around since Ancient Egyptian times. To hold something that long and then suddenly give it up was not the Vampire style. No, something was going on; and it was not good. And her daughter was blind to it, seeing what they were as an embarrassment instead of something that was unique and special. And now her Granddaughter and Great Granddaughter may end up paying the price for Caroline’s foolishness.

Elizabeth put the letter down on the table and grabbed her phone. Enough time had passed for Caroline to be in her little snit, it was time for action. She punched in a number and brought the phone to her ear.

“Caroline, it’s your Mother. We have to talk.”

 

Getting into trouble was not at the top of my list of things to do today. I think my test for Biology was more in that range. But here I am, sitting in front of the Principal’s office, waiting for my Mama to show up. So she can be told that I am in trouble for something that wasn’t even my fault. My friend Taylor and I had been playing, that was all. There was no fighting, there was no animosity, and for heaven’s sake there were no gang issues! You would think that they would understand that! I mean we-

My thoughts broke off when the door opened and Mama appeared. At 31, Grace Abbott is a beautiful woman; at least I think so, she is my Mama. She has shoulder length dark hair that dances against her shoulders in graceful waves, creamy skin that has a hint of darkness to it and dark brown eyes that miss little. Those eyes swept across the office and landed right smack on me which made her lips thin into a line as she strode over. The look on her face told me two things, she was absolutely livid and if it came down to it, I would probably be safer in the office than going home with her. 

“What in the world is going on?” Mama demanded of me just as the door to Mr. Dorgan’s office, burst opened like he had binoculars trained through the mini blinds in his windows. 

“Ah Miss Abbott, thank you for coming down,” He gave me a small glance and then focused his attention on her. “If you would please come in here and we can speak for a moment, then we can bring Amaia in.” 

 

After they disappeared into his office, I sat outside for almost 20 minutes. I was starting to wonder if something else was going on besides talking when the door finally popped opened and Mr. Dorgan appeared. “Amaia, you may come in now.” I stood up, grabbed my backpack and walked slowly into the office. 

Mr. Dorgan sat down behind his desk and I sat down next to Mama who was sitting straight up, like she was a rocket getting ready to launch. Mr. Oh man, I was so dead. Mr. Dorgan folded his fat hands together and said, in an almost gleeful tone. “Let’s talk about what happened shall we?” 

I groaned softly and tried to slide down in my chair, this was so stupid! Mama gave my leg a poke. “I am sure Amaia knows what she did wrong. And I will make sure that she is punished accordingly.” 

Mr. Dorgan smiled an oily smile that seemed to slide across his lips like slime. “I am afraid that is not sufficient as I currently have a young lady in the nurse’s office with a possible concussion and potentially a broken wrist, I must insist that-” 

“But I didn’t do it!” I shouted as I jumped out of my seat. “I didn’t throw her against the lockers! I told you a 100 times already, Taylor and I were playing, I gave her a little push and then she…was flying. It was not on purpose!” 

Mr. Dorgan’s face turned a purple hue “Young lady sit down!” As I sat down, he turned his gaze to Mama. “You see Miss. Abbott, she continues to say it was not her fault, that she did not purposely slam her friend against the locker. She claims it was in play. But there is no way that a child as small as your daughter could just push someone and do the damage that has been done. No, it is quite clear that Taylor was slammed.” 

Mama sighed and rubbed her face. “Well then Mr. Dorgan, what are you suggesting?” 

He smiled and that made me want to punch him in his fat face. “Well I do have some ideas.” 

In the end, my sentence was two days suspension from the physical campus. I would have to tend to my studies online. And when I came back, I would be on probation and if I injured anyone else, I would be excused from the facility. 

Mama stood up once my sentence had been determined. “I appreciate your time Mr. Dorgan. Let’s go Amaia.” I stood up and lifted my backpack up over my shoulder. This was just what I wanted, be exiled from the campus for something I didn’t even do. This stunk. 

Mama and I didn’t speak as we walked out of the building. Mama was still boiling mad and I knew better than to test her at this point. When we got into her Explorer and the doors were closed, Mama looked at me. 

 

“Ok Amaia, I want the truth now, not the little song and dance you put on for the Principal in there.” 

I had to roll my eyes at that one, song and dance my foot. 

Mama just glared at me. “Cut the attitude, I am not your Principal, what happened?” 

I took a deep breath, ok finally, I could tell her what really happened and she'll see I didn't mean to hurt my best friend. “Taylor and I were in the hallway. It was lunchtime; she was showing off her new lipstick. I asked to try it on and she said it was too cool for me. We all started laughing and I went to grab it from her, and she yanked it away playfully. We were still laughing and I gave her a tiny push, in play I swear! And then….” I bit my lip a little and looked down at my hands.

“And then.” Mama said softly. 

“And then no one was laughing. The locker was dented in and Taylor was on the ground.” 

It was quiet for a long minute as Mama looked out the window. I am sure she was letting what I said and Mr. Dorgan had told her churn in her head. She finally turned back to me and said. “I’m sorry but what you just told me it’s not…even physically possible for you to do that from a little push. There is no way it happened like that. Something else had to have happened.”

You could have knocked me over with a feather. Really? Mama didn’t believe me? Her daughter? Oh that is just messed up. “I knew you wouldn’t even try to believe it for five seconds. Thanks for not disappointing me.” I said in the nastiest voice I could muster. 

Mama just glared at me. “We are not continuing this in the car. It’s too damn hot and I have dinner to make.” Mama started the car, put it in gear and moved out of the parking lot. 

The drive back to our modest two story house was silent. I am sure Mama was irritated by my attitude and what she thought was a lie. Well good, I was just as mad at her by her not believing me. I was telling the truth and she was taking someone else’s word. Unbelievable. 

When we finally pulled into the driveway, she turned off the car and sat for a second, staring at the Ford symbol on the steering wheel. In a careful voice she said, “Go upstairs; I really cannot deal with you at this moment. I will call you when its dinner time.” 

I shot her what I hoped was a dark look before I got out of the car and stomped up the small stone steps that led to the front door. I grabbed the key from under the mat, opened the door and stormed upstairs. I was beyond mad. This was just..argh! I stomped into the bathroom and splashed some water on my face. I was overheated and needed to cool off to collect my head that was for sure. I reached out for a towel when the phone started to ring. Ok that was weird, our landline never rang. Well it did, but mostly it was Telemarketers. Everyone else knew to call Mama or me on our cellphones. I stepped out of the bathroom and turned towards the small table that held the phone. It kept ringing, maybe Mama was ignoring it, but what if it was important? I lifted up the phone and brought it to my ear. I was getting ready to say hello when I heard my Mama say it. I should have hung up as soon as she answered, but my curiosity was piqued. There was a brief moment of silence and then a soft lilting voice spoke “Grace? It’s Mother.”

I blinked my eyes. Grandmother Caroline? Wow, it had been weeks since we had heard from her. “Uh Mother,” Mama said “It’s been awhile. How are you?” 

She gave a brisk, “Oh just fine, keeping busy. Listen, if you are free tomorrow the afternoon, your Grandmother wants to see you and Amaia. She thought we would all like to have Tea. You will have to come and get me since you know I don't drive since I moved into the retirement home.” 

Mama had a Grandmother? I thought our only family was Grandmother Caroline. I bit my lip a little, choking back the questions I was dying to ask. After a few long minutes of silence where I am sure Mama was wanting to slam the phone against the wall, she finally answered. “Well, normally I would say no. Because of Amaia’s school. But circumstances being what they are, of course we would love to go Mother; I will come and get you in the morning. 7:30 ok?”

“That is quite agreeable. I will see you in the morning.” 

The two said their goodbyes and I waited until I heard Mama hang up before hanging up the extension. Now I had two options, I could go downstairs and demand answers or, I could go take a shower. I opted for shower. It had been a long day, I was hot and tired, and with the mood Mama was in, I really didn’t want to ask her any questions. Besides, it would feel good to climb under some blessedly cool water. It was Fall, but the Summer heat was clinging to the house like it was moss. 

Once I was done, I stepped out, dried off, brushed and pulled back my long curly brown hair and changed into a pair of comfy sleep pants and a tank top. When I stepped out of the bathroom, Mama called up the stairs to me. 

“Amaia, are you done in the shower?” 

I frowned a little. “No, it’s the ghost of Christmas Past, Amaia is still in the shower.” 

There was a beat of silence, and Mama replied like she was speaking through clenched teeth. “Come set the table please.” 

I sighed loudly and went downstairs. Mama was at the stove stirring a large pot. From the smell of it, she had thrown together Spaghetti. I really hoped it was not poisoned, with the mood she was in, I wouldn’t really put it past her. After I set the table I poured some milk into my glass. Mama brought the Spaghetti and set it down on the hot mat that was on the table for the pot. She set the bread next to it and then sat down and took a long drink from her wineglass which was almost filled to the brim. I rolled my eyes a little. 

“Hitting the sauce tonight are we?” 

She shot me a glare and started dishing up the Spaghetti into a bowl in front of her. “After the day I have had, it’s either this or a Double Jack Daniels on the Rocks. Take thy pick my daughter.” 

I shut my mouth and started eating my dinner. The silence spread so thick I could have cut it with a knife. I tried to turn my attention away from the silence and thought of Taylor. Taylor had been my best friend since we were in Kindergarten. Surely she didn’t think I did this on purpose. Poor Taylor, maybe I could give her a call or send a text, it was just an accident, we had been playing! A tiny little accident that-

I let out a yelp when something cold and wet covered my hand. I looked down at my hand where I had been holding my glass to take a drink of milk. There was no glass now, it was just a puddle of milk and some chunks of glass. I looked up at her Mama whose face was white as a ghost. Trying not to show how freaked out I was, I jumped up and grabbed the paper towels. 

“Sorry Mama, I must have not watched what I was doing and it broke.” I came back to the table and started to sop up the mess trying to watch the glass even though, logically, I had just crushed the glass and it didn’t even hurt my hand. So making sure I didn’t get cut cleaning up, seemed a bit of a moot point. 

“I can’t believe I did that I am so clumsy I-” I let out a gasp when Mama lifted my right hand up and gave it a cursory look. Not a mark was on it. We looked at each other for a long minute before she said softly. “Go upstairs, I will clean this up.”

Like any good solider, I obeyed my commanding officer and retreated to my bedroom. Once there, I shut the door and for good measure, locked it. Once that was done, I flopped down onto my bed and stared at the ceiling that had my Glow in the dark stars. I should be doing homework. That would be the smart thing to do. Do homework, go to bed and forget that today ever happened. 

But, on the other hand, I had two days of vacation, sort of, and it’s not like I had anything exciting going on to occupy my time that would distract me from homework. I decided to call Taylor first and check on her. She was my best friend and deserved, if nothing else, a hey how are you from me. I hopped off my bed and went to my desk where my phone was charging and sent a text out to her first. “R U Busy???”

The phone chirped back to me a few seconds later. “Plz call b4 I lose my f’ing mind.” 

I smiled, flopped back onto the bed and dialed Taylor’s number. She answered on the second ring. “Hey, I just wanted to check on you.” 

Taylor sighed softly; sounding sad “I’m fine my head only hurts when I try to think, so I get a few days off from school. My wrist is fine, just sprained. It’s in a sling so I am learning fast how to text one handed.” I laughed softly and curled around the tiny device.

“Mai, what happened? Like seriously?” 

“I wish I knew Tay. I have no idea really. I was just playing I had no intention of…doing what I did. Is your mom furious? Am I forbidden to see you ever again?” I asked in a mocking tone to try and make Taylor laugh.

It worked because Taylor laughed brightly. “OW, that hurt. But please, my mom does not believe that you did this. She thinks it’s a smear campaign against you. She is convinced it’s the head cheerleader that is sleeping with the principal and they are setting you up.” 

I really laughed at that one. “You made that up!” 

Taylor laughed too. “Yes I did, and it was funny. But for reals Mai, mom doesn’t believe you did this, and I know you didn’t do it on purpose. So, no worries. And I hate cutting this short but I think the pain meds are finally kicking in. So hang up the phone you weirdo and let me get some sleep.” 

I told Taylor bye and hung up the phone. I was glad that everything was cool between us. I needed to at least pretend to start my homework, but I need music to work by. I set my phone back on the desk, grabbed my laptop and fired up Pandora. 

Once the music started, I figured since I am on the internet, I might as well jump on Facebook. Ah procrastination, it does a body good. 

After catching up on the gossip (and making sure I was not at the center of it), I switched from Facebook and logged into my school’s website. I went to what most would consider a hybrid of a charter school which gives you two options for going to school (which is why Mama and I picked it). You can go the physical campus, sit at your desk, gossip with your friends, and eat the questionable cafeteria food. Or, if you have a day where you don’t feel like doing any of that; you can log in at the school’s website and participate with your individual classes via Skype. Each classroom has a computer specifically set up for that. When it first happened, it was a little weird to see a face on a computer screen asking questions, but now it’s almost normal to see four or five screens pop up and interact with people in the classroom. 

I had always liked going to the campus. I liked seeing my friends and, well, let’s be honest here; being able to interact with humans while doing school work make it a little more bearable. I will give Mr. Dorgan one thing, he knew his quarry and what would hurt me the most. I sighed softly, logged into the School Email Account and dug into my homework packets. 

I was in the middle of emailing my Biology teacher a question about when there was a knock on the door I paused my typing, stopped the music and went to unlock the door. When I did, I looked into the eyes of Mama. “Hey.” 

Mama said nothing, just walked into the room and sat on the bed. "Why was the door locked?” 

I shrugged my shoulders. “I just felt like locking it.” How could I tell her that my split second thought was I was hiding from essentially myself, at least the myself that tosses people like bean bags and crushes milk glasses.

She sighed heavily. “Amaia, it’s time to talk about everything that's happened today. You're already in deep shit as it is for the trouble at school and now you are breaking things. I'm going to give you one more chance to come clean about what really happened because lying to me is not helping your case right now.” 

I felt my temper start to rise, but tried to pull it back, I had already launched Taylor into a locker. “Mama, I swear I haven't done anything! Why don't you believe me? Even Taylor and her Mom believe it was an accident. So, why is it so hard for my own Mother to understand I would never intentionally hurt my best friend? ” 

Mama sighed softly and rubbed her face. “You know what Amaia, I am done. I am so done with this whole situation. I am tired of the lies! So this is what is going to happen: You are grounded. When you go back to school, you are not allowed to go anywhere or do anything. Home and school, that is it; No phone, no friends, nothing.” 

Oh that was just mean! I started to protest but Mama just held up her hand. “I told you, I am done. Now, in other news since you were in a snit at dinner, your Grandmother called. We are going to have Tea with her and Great Grandma Elizabeth tomorrow.”

“I want you to dress nicely, so dig in your closet for something. Now I am going to bed, set your alarm for early. We have a long drive.” 

When Mama left the room, I indulged in one of my childish habits of pushing my face into the pillow and screamed. Once I was done I got up and went to my closet to hunt up something nice for tomorrow. Thankfully, Mama had not noticed my lack of surprise to her announcement that we were going to have tea. I gave the inside of my closet a cursory look and sighed. Black would probably be appropriate, well maybe not appropriate, but it would for sure strike a tone on the situation. But the only dressy black thing I had was a mini skirt. “Don’t think that would make a good impression.” I said softly and kept digging through the closet. 

A loud screeching in my ear got me up the next morning after about four hours of sleep. My eyes popped opened and I sat up fast with a gasp. I looked around the room for the noise and realized it was my alarm. Oh right. Tea. I thought capitalizing the word I leaned over, hit the stupid alarm for silence, rubbed my face and then peered out the window. The sun was just coming up, making the sky turn a pretty pink and blue hue. I yawned, rubbed my hair and went over to my closet. I had finally found a nice dress that would be comfortable, but only after some serious digging. It was a simple blue dress with ruffles around the knee length edge. After I got dressed, I pinned my hair back with some clips. And since the humidity was being mean, braided it. I pulled on my white sandals, grabbed up my small handbag, dropped my cellphone and iPod inside and went downstairs. 

Mama was sitting at the kitchen table in a nice apricot colored pantsuit and appeared to be downing about a gallon of coffee. I went to the refrigerator and pulled out some juice. I poured a glass, grabbed a Pop tart and sat down across from her. “So are we still mad at each other?” I asked. 

She shrugged a little and sipped her coffee. “I think at this point we will just agree to disagree. You are being punished, that is the important part. The jury is still out on whether it was the right punishment.” She sipped her coffee again and I gritted my teeth together to avoid another argument. I wanted to get through this trip and tea in one piece. Instead I said, “Wine last night and coffee this morning. You’re getting pretty hardcore.” 

Mama smirked a little at me. “I need to fortify myself. I am dragging myself out of the house at 7:00 am just to listen to my Mother bitch and moan the whole five and a half hours it takes to get to Madisonville; it’s either coffee or a Double Big Gulp full of Rum and Coke.” She glanced at the clock and sighed. “Let’s get going. We have a long day ahead of us.” 

We walked out to the Explorer. I started to get into the front seat and paused. “Do you think Grandmother will want to sit in the front? I can move.” 

Mama shook her head “No, she likes the backseat, makes her think she is being chauffeured somewhere.” 

I smiled at that and got into the car. I looked out the window as we rolled out of the driveway. “So who exactly is Elizabeth, and why have I never met her?” 

“As I said last night, Elizabeth is my Grandmother, your Great Grandmother. And you have never met her because she lives 5 hours away for one thing and for another, your Grandmother doesn’t get along with her.” 

I wasn’t really surprised to hear that one; prickly mother/daughter relationships ran in the family apparently; Grandmother and Mama were always fighting. Mostly because Grandmother always brought up how Mama had ruined her life having me when she was 16; it always ended with someone storming out or hanging up the phone. I had always been pleased that Mama and I had avoided the prickles but, with the situation we were in, I was starting to wonder if it was just a family curse to be prickly due to strong temperaments. “Why is that?” I asked glancing over at Mama. 

She shrugged and merged into the turning lane to get onto the highway. “You know, I am not really sure. Soon after I was born, Elizabeth did something that upset your Grandmother so much that she told her to never again darken her doorstep again. And Elizabeth honored the request. I only met her once, when I was about four or five and your Granddaddy took me to see her. I don’t remember much about her, just that she was this great lady that everyone admired.” She shrugged a little. “There must be something up if she is calling all of us together like this.” 

I didn’t say anything to that, just smoothed the dress over my legs and turned my attention back out the window. Things were getting a little too weird for my taste; spraining Taylor’s wrist and giving her a slight concussion from a tiny push, breaking the glass; and now, a Great Grandmother whom had exiled herself from the family was calling everyone in to have Tea. This was getting spooky. 

Shortly after 7:30, we got to Cordova to pick up Grandmother. She was sitting in the porch swing at the front part of the retirement community place she had moved into not so long ago. She was wearing a flower print dress with a pink jacket over the top of it. When we pulled up, she started for the car. As she got closer, I noticed her face was taking on her typical sucked on a lemon look. That look only meant one thing, there was a lecture coming, and I didn’t want to be in the midst of it. I opened up my handbag and pulled out my iPod, plugged in the ear buds and started to put them in my ears. Mama grabbed my wrist to stop me and hissed out under her breath. “Put those things in and leave me with that woman, I will bury you under the patio.”

Taking note of the crazed look on her face, I pulled the buds out just as Grandmother got into the car. “My goodness this thing is high up. I hope I don’t break my neck trying to get out of it. And it smells funny in here. I hope that is not some new perfume you have on Grace, you know my sinuses act up.” She shut the door and leaned across the seat “Well, let me have a look at my Granddaughter. Hmm, you do resemble your mother, but you have a lot of your Grandfather in you, not a good combination in my opinion. My goodness, I hope the ride is not too bumpy.” 

Mama sighed heavily and put the car in gear. “Hello Mother Dear. It’s great to see you.” 

I smiled and nodded. “Yes Grandmother, it’s lovely to see you.” "Mother what's Grandma Elizabeth's address?" She asked Grandmother Caroline as she turned on the GPS. 

I gave Mama a defiant look and shoved the ear buds into my ears. Mama shot me a look as I flipped the music to Bruno Mars. Let Mama do her worst, I would rather face that wrath than listen to Grandmother cackle. 

An hour into the ride, I jumped a foot when the ear buds were yanked out of my ears. I looked over at Mama as she tugged the tiny cord out of the iPod, rolled down her window and launched them out onto the highway. I know my mouth was hanging opened when she gave me a quick glance and said in the sweetest voice, "Amaia, sweet heart, why don’t you tell your Grandmother about school; I'm sure she would love to hear about it.”

Grandmother stopped talking immediately. “Oh yes, do tell me what have you been up to?” 

I closed my mouth and gave Mama a dirty look which she missed. I leaned back into my seat and sighed. “Nothing really to tell Grandmother, I am getting an A in Biology, doing ok in English, Math stinks. That’s really it, not much to report. Oh, yesterday they were supposed to serve Salisbury steak and we got Fish Sticks instead. I also got suspended for two days.” I ignored the glare that Mama shot at me as Grandmother squawked out: “What?” 

“I know, I couldn’t believe we got Fish Sticks either!” 

Grandmother let out a gasp. “Grace! What is she talking about?” 

Mama shot me another glare for apparently dragging her into the conversation and glanced in the rearview mirror. “Those were the circumstances I mentioned last night Mother, Amaia was suspended.” 

“Well, what in the world for?” she asked.

Mama flipped on the turn single and merged into the next lane. “Apparently she thought it would be just hysterical to slam her friend into a locker. She claims she didn’t do it, but here we are.” 

The car went completely silent. It was so silent Mama and I both had to look in the backseat to make sure Grandmother was still alive. “Mother, are you alright?” 

She was sitting rim rod straight in the backseat. “Tell me everything. Don’t leave anything out.” 

I blinked her eyes and recounted the story to Grandmother. When I was done, Grandmother frowned a bit, looked out the window and said nothing; I looked over at her Mama who shrugged and turned her attention to the road. I would say this is the first time that Grandmother has been rendered speechless by anything. Again, spooky. 

 

The rest of the way to Elizabeth’s was pretty quiet. I don’t think I have ever been around Grandmother where she said nothing. I would have drowned out the silence by putting in my earbuds, but SOMEONE tossed them out onto the highway. Won’t name names, but I am sure they know who they are. 

When we were 2 miles from the exit for Knoxville, when Mama turned down a small two lane highway. Grandmother shifted in the backseat and sighed heavily. I turned back to look at her. “Did you grow up here Grandmother?” 

She nodded her head. “Yes, I know this area like the back of my hand, those are the Unicoi Mountains over there.” 

She pointed off to the distance where some large mountains were looming up. It was a beautiful area, I can’t imagine why Grandmother would ever want to leave this place. 

Suddenly the two lane highway slid into a small town. I gasped softly seeing all the quaint little shops, it was like storybook world come to life. One of things that stood out as we drove through town was a huge building with a large clock. Grandmother smiled at my face. “That is the Monroe County Courthouse, a lot of visitors use it for a landmark to find where they are going. It’s a museum now. When I was a child it was in operation though.” Her face took a sad look when she said that, as if she wanted to go back to those days. 

We went through the town and went south towards the mountains. We traveled for about 10 minutes before Grandmother said softly. “Slow down dear the turn off is coming up.” Mama slowed her speed and came to a small dirt road. The sign in front of the dirt road simply said. “Elizabeth.” 

Mama turned onto the dirt road and it was like going through a forest; Dogwood trees dropped the last of their pretty white flowers, as the Red Maples showed off their colors, while Sweet Birch danced in the wind. Pressed against the trees were all manner of ferns and wild flowers; all stuck among the green, green grass. I half expected some mythical animal to pop out in front of us. When we made it through the trees, I saw that the road turned into a wide half circle dirt driveway, a woman who couldn’t have been any taller than me stood on the stairs in front of it. She lifted her arm and waved. Mama turned into the drive and turned off the car. The woman moved down the stairs to the car as we got out. She was dressed in a creamy white pants suit with a floral jacket that set off her long dark hair that all of them had had started to show strains of white but it was still very rich looking, almost like hot chocolate with marshmallows. What struck me was young she looked and how she moved towards us with a supple, strong grace that belied her years. She could have been Mama’s age! 

She smiled as she stepped on the last step in front of us. “Oh my goodness; Grace, you are so beautiful!” She hugged Mama close to her and kissed her cheek “Well, my goodness you hardly look older than when I last saw you.”

Still smiling, she turned her attention to me. “My word, you are stunning, you are the image of your Mother.” She cupped my chin gently “Except for those eyes, lovely green emeralds.” I know I blushed a gentle shade of red. My eyes were so different from Mama’s and Grandmothers, they had dark brown eyes which made sense with their dark hair. I had dark hair and green eyes, I hated standing out like a sore thumb. Elizabeth smiled at my blush. “Now, don’t be embarrassed by those eyes. They are beautiful and unique, like you, like all of us really.” She opened the gate so Mama and I could go up the stairs towards the house. Grandmother followed behind us and paused in front of Elizabeth, which made Elizabeth press her lips together for a moment before she smiled coolly and said in a frosty tone. “Hello Caroline.” 

“Hello Mother. “Grandmother said back just as coolly, making Elizabeth press her lips together again before clearing her throat as she turned to Mama and me, the warm smile gracing her face again. “Shall we go into the backyard; I have set up an area for us to have Tea.” 

We followed Elizabeth into the large, white house with a beautiful wrap around porch. Tiny jeweled colored planters held tiny green buds, dormant for the Fall or full bloom flowers. When we walked into the house, a tall woman with a long, thin face met us in the Foyer. She had long ruddy hair and a pasty complexion; her smile thin like a rubber band stretching from cheek to cheek. 

“Ah,” Elizabeth said “Here is Vera; she has been with me for….well long than I think the two of us care to admit. Vera, this is my Granddaughter Grace, my Great Granddaughter Amaia and you remember Caroline.” 

Vera nodded her head at us and said in a dreary voice “The tea is prepared and I am ready to take it out to the Garden ma’am.” 

Elizabeth smiled. “Well then, shall we head out?” 

Grandmother cut her eyes to Elizabeth. “I would like to speak to you first if you please.” 

Elizabeth sighed heavily. “Fine, shall we go into the library? Vera, please show Amaia and Grace to the Gazebo and I will be out there shortly. You can hold off on the tea for now.” 

“Yes ma’am.” Vera moaned out and led me and Mama out the small door with a stained glass window and into Paradise. 

The green grass spread away from the wrought iron steps we went down like a carpet. Tiny white flowers popped up between the stone s that made up the footpath underneath a wooden lattice that was enveloped with cross vines, their tiny yellow flowers budding out even as the chill autumn breeze danced across the garden. The tiny path forked a few feet away from the steps, one leading down a small incline where more flowers and shrubs dotted the landscape. The other led straight into a small grotto area hidden underneath the lattice and vines. A small couch sat in the corner of the wooden grotto structure along with a tiny white table. More potted plants dotted the tiny stone patio that the table and couch sat on. Mama took a seat at the tiny chair and crossed her long legs while I flopped onto the couch “This place is amazing Mama!” 

Mama nodded. “It is beautiful, feels like being in some mythical garden; I keep expecting to see a tiny gnome pop out and start stealing the Roses.” I had to laugh since I had had the same thought in the car coming up to the house. I look over at Vera who stood in the entry way to the tiny Grotto, “Vera, do you mind if I look around the garden some more before Elizabeth comes out?” 

Vera nodded her head, stiffly like if she swung it too hard it would snap off her neck. “Of course not Miss Amaia, but please don’t wander too far, tea you know.” 

I nodded, stood up and moved past Vera into the garden.

I went down the small incline and moved among the rose bushes of red, purple and some were even blue tinted. I had never in my life, seen a Blue Rose, it had a potent fragrance that tickled my nose. 

I sighed softly and stood, I walked around the other shrubs that dotted the landscape; some vibrant in color, some in a soft undertone to add to the nature of the area. There were statues and fountains. It felt like I was walking in some Garden of Eden. 

A sudden chirping and fluttering of wings caught my attention. I looked over towards the house and saw a sparrow fly away from the interlacing vines that hung on the side of the house. A bird nest this late in the season? I moved towards the vines and fell over some underbrush that was underneath. I almost hit my head on the rocks that were scattered around. I sat for a moment trying to get my head together when the sudden noise of a door being banged opened made me jump. I started to move out of the underbrush and back into the garden when I heard Grandmother’s voice, pitched and heated. “…bringing them here is like opening Pandora’s Box, you are going to ruin that poor child’s life! I have told you before and I will say it again, I want nothing to do with this sickness that is part of our family!” 

“Caroline, she needs to go. She will be safe in the city.” 

I heard something slam down hard. “We have been fine for years and we will continue to do so! She will be safe here, she can be protected!”

I heard a ladylike snort. “Protected? Caroline how do you expect to do that? You who has denied what you are, and your daughter, who doesn’t know, to go against something stronger than the two of you combined, throw a Gucci Handbag at it?” There was harsh laugh from Elizabeth that made my spine tingle. “You both lack training and education. No, the city is safe for her. Also, she needs this, she needs to be among me and mine so she can understand better what is going on, why she is doing what she is. She is innately attached to this and it will be better for her in the long run. Footsteps moved across the room and I ducked deeper into the foliage, but thankfully, no one came to the window. “Grace will follow soon after. Because she needs this as well Caroline, you have denied them their heritage long enough.” I heard footsteps move closer to the window, a drawer opened and the shut

“Why would you send Grace after, she is her Mother she should…” There was a beat of silence and then Grandmother said. “What are you doing?” Another set of footsteps moved closer to the desk and Grandmother gasped harshly. “You would trust Amaia in the hands of that, that, thing! 

“Have a care how you speak my daughter,” Elizabeth said in a soft, deadly tone. “That thing happens to be someone who understands honor. His Father was always faithful to our family and I expect no less from the son.” 

“The sire you mean.” Grandmother snorted out. 

“At this moment, I mean to protect the innocent members of this family that do not deserve to be slaughtered. I failed with you or rather, you failed yourself. And now you are trying everything you can to drag the rest of this family down. I won’t have it. 

There was a loud thunk of something being slammed onto the desk. “I told you when I was 18, I would no longer be privy to this. That I would not go to the city and I would not dance to your tune. I am quite a bit older and I still say the same thing, I refuse to take part in this freak show!” 

Elizabeth was quiet a very long time and then finally said, “Fine my sweet daughter, you may stay here and make arrangements for Amaia and Grace. You as well, if you are so inclined. Amaia will leave in 2 weeks’ time, which is not soon enough if you ask me, and once Grace has settled her affairs, she will follow. And as for your other very rude behavior, ‘If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.’ Now, pick up the phone and make the call if you please.” 

There was huff of breath and loud clatter of the phone being yanked. “I will thank you not to quote George Bernard Shaw at me to end and argument.” Grandmother muttered as the door closed. I stood up, pushed aside the vines and ran to the grotto where Mama was still sitting. She had a glass of water on the table in front of her that she was taking sips out of. I sat down next to her and bit my lip. I wanted to burst out about what I heard, but I made myself be silent. Mama looked thoughtful and sad for some reason. I gave her hand a small squeeze. “Mama you alright?” She nodded. “I was just thinking about when my father brought me here. I don’t really remember much, as I said before. Mostly little things. It had been winter or late fall; I remember a heavy coat. When we got here, Elizabeth lifted me up and kissed my face all over.” I smiled. “That sounds nice.” Mama nodded and ran her finger across the rim of the glass. “But, there was sadness to the memory, arguing maybe?” She sighed softly. “Such a long time ago.”

Elizabeth suddenly appeared looking quite refreshed. “Well, are we ready for tea?” 

Mama smiled and nodded. “Where is Mother?” 

Elizabeth’s face froze for a moment before it relaxed making me raise my eyebrows a little. “Caroline is indisposed at the moment, but she said to go forward with tea and she will join us later.” Elizabeth sat down next to me and smiled at Vera. “Please bring out the tea cart Vera.” Vera nodded and disappeared into the house and came back a few minutes later with a cart covered with food. There were tiny Finger Sandwiches, Petite Fours, Cake, Coffee, Tea, Lemonade, and all sorts of things. Once Vera had it all on the small table, I was surprised it didn’t collapse under the weight of food. 

As we ate, Elizabeth chatted with us about the gardens and my walk. She gave us a few histories on some of the plants, including the blue roses. I knew that Elizabeth was trying to cover up her nerves over something, and I was trying to put the conversation between her and Grandmother out of my mind and just enjoy the tea and the conversation. But, it kept chiming through my mind. Elizabeth felt I needed to be saved, Grandmother felt that she could do it; and for some reason, hated something that Elizabeth had pulled out of her desk. 

I must have had a pensive look on my face because Elizabeth set down her cake fork and cleared her throat. “Well, now that we have had food, I need to speak of the reason I brought you here.” She twirled one elegant finger across the rim of her china tea cup. “Caroline thinks I am overreacting, but I have been in this world a long time and I don’t generally overreact. There have been whispers on the wind, and now they are starting to turn into screams. And I-” She looked up at us, her gaze landing on each of our faces. “Well, I am dancing around the issue. You see, our family is not what we seem.” 

She looked at me, her dark eyes were as pensive as I guessed my face to be. “I am sure my dear that you have noticed some changes in yourself. Strength that was not there before, unusual hunger, possible anger issues…” She gave a tiny sigh, like she was reciting something she was all too familiar with. “I can’t drag this out anymore. Amaia, you are a Dhampir, like me, like your Grandmother and your Mother.” 

My mouth dropped open. “I’m a what?” Mama opened and closed her mouth a few times like she wanted to say something but no words came. 

Elizabeth closed her eyes for a moment, as if gathering her thoughts and looked over at Vera. “Will you bring the book here please Vera?” Vera, who had been standing next to the cart that she had brought out the tea things leaned underneath and pulled out a black book. She brought it over to Elizabeth who opened it. “You see, we are descended from Elizabeth Bathory who has been painted in a horrible light.” As all of leaned over the book to see it. At the top of the page in huge wide letters was the word Dhampir. I looked at Elizabeth and she started to read. 

Dhampirs are children that are from a Vampire parent and a Human parent. The word Dhampir is believed to derive from the Albanian language where pirё means "to drink", and dhёmbё or dham means "teeth", thus Dhampir, "to drink with teeth". Dhampirs powers are similar to those of vampires, but without the usual weaknesses. 

She flipped to the next page, where a portrait of a young man stood. Across was a picture of a lovely young woman. Elizabeth smiled at me. “Frederick and Elizabeth Bathory.” She continued to read. 

Frederick Bathory was a great Count in Hungary. He was married to his wonderful wife Elizabeth and the two dreamed of starting a family. Frederick came into control of the family businesses and land holdings early in his life from the death of his father. 

He was very busy, making trips that dealt with the land holdings. It was said that through one of his trips to Vienna, Frederick met Amun Rahotep. Amun told Frederick that he had been studying Botany at the University in Egypt, but his path of study would be better completed in Vienna. But what Fredrick didn’t know is that Amun was a Vampire, and Amun had plans to amass an army. 

So, when it came close for Frederick to return to Hungary, Amun had a different idea. Amun had grown fond of the smart and well-spoken young man and decided he would make a good asset to his growing people. 

Amun also knew that in years to come, that people with money and connections would be handy for his plans of the future. 

One night, as Frederick was taking his back to his hotel, Amun struck Frederick and pulled him into a dark alley. There, the Vampire drained Frederick to near death, then fed him some of his blood. Amun stayed with Frederick briefly to what had happened. He was told Frederick to continue his life and that Amun would be in touch.

Frederick ran as fast as he could to catch a train away from the nightmare in Vienna. The only thought he had on the way home was how this was going to affect his wife. He prayed he could hide the monster he was from his wife and family.

But it was not to be. For one night, Elizabeth found him in the garden drinking one of the maids. Frederick expected her to be horrified, but instead she took him inside and drew a bath. She took care of her husband and brought him servants to drink from when he needed it. As Frederick grew stronger, he started experimenting with his blood. He had decided that for her to remain with him, she must become a vampire. But for her to become a vampire, he would have to break the highest Vampire law and create her. Fearing the wrath of his Maker, he chose instead to have her drink small amounts of his blood every day. If he could not turn her into a Vampire by doing so, perhaps he could prolong her life. 

Elizabeth realized she was expecting that winter. After a visit to the doctor, he declared that she had become pregnant, sometime in the early fall (just before Frederick had left for Vienna) and would have the baby in the spring. Frederick, while overjoyed was slightly afraid. He was feeding his wife his blood, what kind of children would that bring forth? Would they be monsters, demons, something else? All through the rest of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, he worried. But when she gave birth to a set of twins which appeared to be normal and healthy, he felt better and thought that the worst was behind them.

He didn’t know the worst was coming. That death was coming. 

The rumors had started in town, Elizabeth’s pale skin, and her fast movements. Odd things to fan the embers of fear that soon started to flame, which brought death to Frederick and his family. 

It came in the night, when the house was silent. The babies were sleeping, as was Elizabeth. Frederick was awake and working in the library, a small miracle in his mind when he noticed the movement at the front of the house. He tracked the movement and then rose from the window. He had been expecting them to come; he was surprised it had taken this long. He moved to the bed and shook Elizabeth gently, urging her to wake up. When she opened her eyes, he told her to get the babies and leave the house. Flee to the Convent that was about an hour walk from their house. Death had come for them. Elizabeth, frightened of her husband’s rambling, tried to soothe him. He just needed some sleep. He needed to rest. It was his nerves. But he knew his nerves were not the cause of the movement outside. He grabbed her by the arm and yanked her down the hall, telling her to get the children and flee. The torches were lighting the yard, the shouts were rising to the windows. It wasn’t Amun, he had always said a wise man uses what is around him; he should never have to get his own hands dirty. 

Frederick drew Elizabeth around his body and shoved her down the hall. He yelled at her to run, to get the children and run! The sound of breaking glass drew his attention as the shouts increased and there was a sudden snap. Good God, they were going to burn the house down. He moved into the nursery where the sleeping children lay and scooped them into his arms. He moved back into the hall, to find Elizabeth gone. He stumbled down the stairs as the smoke began to rise and went out the back door. Perhaps she had gone into the woods. He prayed she was safe. And then he heard voices. He moved to the front of the house, hiding under brush and watched as his wife was brought before the mob. She was accused of witchcraft for his sins. He wanted to step into the light and reveal himself, but her look to the brush forced him to keep his peace. She knew he was there and even as the mob pushed forward to hang her for the crimes she did not commit, she never looked at him with anger or accusation. Instead, she went to her death the same way as all others before her, calmly and quietly. 

When the mob had left, leaving her body to swing in the air, Frederick felt the last bit of his humanity snap. Leaving the children in the brush, he moved out of the shadows and down the road behind the crowd of murders. 

Blood and the stench of death greeted the dawn as the sun rose over it. And a man, broken beyond all hope was found walking down the road to the small convent on the outskirts of the city. 

When the Sister saw him at the door, holding two bundles, she crossed herself and drew back in fear. He said nothing merely held out the bundles. He told the Sister they were his children and they needed care, he had nothing for them now. She took the small bundles into her arms and stared at him, she promised the convent would care for them as best they could He thanked her for her kindness and understanding. He then moved down the lane, stumbling and tripping over his feet. She said a brief prayer for the broken man and took the bundles into the Convent. 

I blinked my eyes a little and looked at Elizabeth. “Are you saying that Elizabeth, the person people call the Blood Countess is our ancestor?” She nodded her head. “Well somewhat, it’s a little more complicated than that.” She flipped to a new page and read some more. 

The twins, Sarah and Tomas grew up very happy and had very sweet dispositions. When they came of age, they decided to travel to Italy for schooling as Italian University was the only place for a young woman to study. The Sisters, while saddened over their leaving, were glad to see them go too. There had been a presence about the children that had tested the sisters’ faith in God. Their strength, their skin, their eyes. Dark, like Demon Eyes staring out of cherub like faces. Their craving for raw meat. 

Several years later, the twins had finished University, both had married and had children. However, the marriages to their respective spouses were found to be short lived and they eventually journeyed to the Americas with Sarah’s two daughters and Tomas’s son. 

When they arrived in The Americas they settled in Roanoke County. There is no record of what happened to them after the disappearance of Roanoke but several years later, a census in Boston declared that Sarah and Thomas Booth were alive and well running a shop specializing in candy. Records were lost until the 1800s when Sarah and Thomas Bates appeared in California soon after its induction to the United States. After settling in California, Thomas, Sarah and the three children disappeared. 

When Elizabeth was through, I fell back in my chair in complete shock. Mama smiled a little and said “Well that explains a lot I guess.” She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed. “I am sorry I didn’t believe you sweetheart. But, I don’t understand why I don’t remember going through the same thing; I mean I should shouldn’t I?” 

Elizabeth shook her head. “I am sure Caroline, brushed it off or hid whatever you did. Or just made you think you dreamed it.” Elizabeth poured more tea and urged the two of us to drink it. I took mine with shaking fingers that I guess Elizabeth noticed. “I am sorry I had to spring this out of nowhere, but these are dangerous times. The vampires are getting stronger, more daring. Something has changed in their nests; it’s not safe for you to remain here.” She took a sip of her tea and looked at Mama. “I want to send Amaia to California in two weeks; the city there is well protected and hidden, she will be safe. You will follow soon after. I am trying to urge Caroline to go, but she hates what we are.” Elizabeth turned back to me and took my hands, “Amaia, I need you to do this for me. I need to know that you are safe.”

My head was absolutely spinning. I think if I tried to stand up, I would have fallen right on my face. I closed my eyes for a second and then opened them to see Mama looking at me. She gave me a smile and said. “Baby, I agree with Elisabeth. I think we need to do this, if Elizabeth believes we need to go then we do. 

Overwhelmed and finally able to speak after being frozen for a few minutes, I stuttered out, “But, I can’t! I have my stuff; my friends and school! I can’t leave them! ” 

Tears pricked my eyes, my life had just been upheaved and my Mama was ok with it, this was not fair! I fell into her arms and started to cry. Mama patted my back and whispered soothing words in my ear. After a few minutes, I calmed down and pulled back from Mama, still sniffling. She ran her fingers under my eyes and said gently. “You will make new friends. I will get you what you can’t take. But, we will be together and safe.” 

That started a new batch of tears falling and I blubbered out, “But what if I go and something happens to you.” Mama rubbed her thumbs under my eyes again. “Then that is just what happens, but I am the adult, I worry about that. You are the kid and your job is to do as I say when I know what I say makes you safe. Now, I want you to agree to get on the train when it leaves in two weeks. I will drag you there bodily, but I would prefer we just agree.” 

I looked over at Elizabeth and then back at Mama. “Ok.” I said in a soft voice. Mama hugged me again and I saw Elizabeth leave the table. For better or for worse, my life had changed and all I could do was hold on for dear life and not fall off.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a Trigger warning for this chapter! It gets a little hairy in the beginning, but it calms down. Its just right at the beginning so scroll down a bit if you want to skip.

The chains rattled against the metal chinks. It was a loud, hollow noise as the shackles were yanked, in a desperate attempt to be freed from the rings. The rattling slowly stopped as the clacking of heels on the stone floor got louder. There had not been a whisper of anyone for days now so, it was a surprise to suddenly hear the click clack of heels.   
A quiet smooth as velvet voice said. “You seem anxious to leave your accommodations.”   
A voice, which was rough and raw sounding, replied. “Well now I don't want to seem rude but I have been making a list of complaints to give the concierge about the service, and accommodations.”   
A chuckle filled the air, devoid of warmth and empathy. “Just as well, you will find the concierge only cares about pleasing me.”   
There was a rustle of clothing as the figure with the velvet voice knelt down beside the prisoner. “You want out of here? You want to be free? I can give you that, you just have to agree to serve me and I will free you.”  
Chains rattled violently as a raw broken scream was released as the kneeling figure pressed a hand against the open infected wound on the other’s back, then making their hand a claw started digging fingers into the wound. The chained figured held out as long as possible twisting away but the chains held strong allowing for hardly any movement until finally, the prisoner in an anguished broken voice gave the only answer that would end the torment. “Yes yes! I WILL SERVE YOU!” 

 

There were pants of relief as the fingers were removed. “I thought you would see it my way, I am going to send someone to release you. To show I can be merciful, your wounds will be attended to and you will be allowed to clean up. After you will be brought to me for your instructions."  
Grabbing the prisoner’s hair and yanking the head back harshly. "A warning. Don't try to escape just because I have shown mercy to you today, because it will not be given again.” The prisoner looked straight into his captor’s eyes and saw nothing but emptiness. Not able to take staring into such cold empty eyes, they surrendered and looked down and away.   
The kneeling figure smiled at the total surrender they saw. "I see we have an understanding." There was one last cruel yank of the prisoner’s hair before releasing it. Nothing was heard but soft moaning and the clicking of heels as the figure disappeared.

After seeing Elizabeth come back into the house from the back window in the library, Caroline had opened the door into the hall. She saw her Mother lifting the extension from the small table in the hallway. “Are they ok?”   
Elizabeth looked up; a little startled that Caroline had appeared so quickly. “They will be, I think all of you should spend the night so, they can get their heads a little more together. I'll send Vera out to get them if you want to go to the kitchen and see what Mrs. Petrie could make for dinner. She is used to just one, not more than that.” Caroline nodded a little and stepped out into the hall as her Mother lifted the phone again and began dialing. Caroline knew who she was calling and why and while she did not agree with it, the whole situation was completely out of her hands.   
Elizabeth was going to do what she was going to do and Caroline had no say in the matter. Well, actually that was not entirely true. She had no say in this matter, but, that didn't mean she couldn't voice her opinion on what they were doing. A smile danced over her face as she went back to the kitchen. Yes. She would be able to do something after all. 

After Elizabeth left us, Mama kept hugging me. It reminded me of the times that I had fallen off of my bike, or got pushed down in play. It was comforting, and it reminded me of what I was losing. OMG! They wanted me to get onto a train and leave in two weeks? How do I do that? How do I pack up and just leave? I pulled back from Mama and bit my lip a little. “I can't believe this is happening.”  
Mama smiled a little. “You can't? Try being me for a second. I punished my kid for something she didn't do and now I have to apologize. This is a dark day in parent history I must say.”   
There was a beat of silence and I started laughing. I laughed so hard, my stomach started to hurt. But it felt good. Once I stopped laughing, I leaned back in my chair and sighed softly. “What are we going to do?”   
Mama shrugged. “We are just going to do the best we can. We are going to go to this city and I will see if I can find a nice job, if not then I will just figure out something. You are going to go to school, make some friends and learn about all of this.”   
I looked down at my hands and then back up at Mama. “Sounds like I have some incurable disease.”  
Mama frowned at me. “Now you know that is not true. This just means you have something special in your blood that makes you a little different than others.”   
I wrapped my arms around myself at the sudden chill in the air and I really hoped it was not from Mama’s words. “I'm scared.”   
Mama reached out and stroked my hair. “I would be worried if you weren't.”   
“Are you?” I asked softly.   
She smiled and nodded her head slowly. I smiled back, at least I wasn't in this alone.   
I bit my lip a little and said in an even softer voice. “Do you think we will be ok? I mean…do you think we will blend in or will we stick out?”   
Mama was quiet for a few seconds before taking my hand in hers. “You know, you and I have been a team for a long time. So trust me when I say, we will be fine. Like I've always said through all of our hills and valleys, it will take some doing, but we will be ok in the long run.”   
The pretty bracelet of different colored gems that was only worn for special occasions fell against the top of her hand as she spoke. I slid my hand from hers and trailed my fingers over the stones. “You know, I always wondered about this bracelet, you only wear it once in a while.”   
Mama smiled and looked at it. “Granddaddy gave it to me when you were born. He went to the hospital with me, your Grandmother didn't want to go to what she deemed an embarrassing situation.” She rolled her eyes a little. “Anyway, I was holding you in my arms, the nurse had just brought you back from your bath. You were so tiny in my arms and I was worried I was going to crush you when your Granddaddy came in. He was holding this box in his hand and was just smiling. He came over to the bed, took you out of my arms and handed me the box. Inside was the bracelet. He said, that I had been blessed with the brightest star in the sky, as he had been. So it was only fitting that everyone should see.” Mama twisted her wrist and took one of the gems between her fingers. “He said each stone represents something; Amethyst for peace, two Emeralds for your shining eyes because they were green even then, Jade for love, and a Sapphire for Intuition and Hope. All interlaced with diamonds that bond a relationship.”   
Ok, that did it. I launched myself into her arms and held on tight. I probably would have held onto her for the rest of the day and into the night, until a low groan interrupted me. Mama and I looked over at Vera who had placed her hands on the tea cart handles. “Mrs. Abbott requests you come inside, she thinks it’s going to start storming soon. I will collect the tea things.”   
No sooner had Vera moaned it out (I would swear she was the female version of Lurch from the Addams’s Family) then the first huge drop of rain landed on my arm. I let out a squeal and stood up as the first clap of thunder roared. Mama grabbed my hand and we started running down the stone path. The fat drops turned into a downpour just as we made the steps that led up to the porch. Mama let go of my hand. “Well that was exciting.”   
I nodded my head. “Yeah, I think I've had enough excitement for today maybe even the rest of my life, let’s go home.”   
Mama just rolled her eyes, climbed up the stairs first and went towards the door to the left that led into the house, I sighed and followed in her wake after pushing some of the small flower pots out of the way from the downpour. I walked up 3 of the 4 steps with no issue, but when I got to the last one, a huge black mound streaked in front of me. I let out a yelp and grabbed the post on top of the stairs to keep from falling on my face. Once I was steady on my feet, I ran by the large bay window and turned to see what the black mound had been. I blinked my eyes at the huge black cat that sat with its backside firmly planted by the stairs. The thing licked at its paw, staring at me with big yellow eyes, almost in a glare.   
I blinked again and narrowed my eyes at the fat cat. “I don't know why you're glaring at me, you were the one that got in my way.” The cat merely flicked its tail as if to brush me off and continued its bath. I stuck my tongue out at the thing and stomped to the door.   
When I stepped into the foyer, Miss Lurch was there to offer me a towel. I took it, giving her a smile as I made my way into the living room where Mama and Elizabeth were in the middle of a conversation. I paused in the doorway, listening to Mama. “-really can't put you out like this.”   
“Really Grace, it’s no trouble. You should stay to get your head together, plus, the storm. You shouldn't drive five hours in weather like this. No, it’s better you stay. Mrs. Petrie is going to make a lovely stew and before you leave tomorrow, you will get a good breakfast."   
Mama sighed softly as she rubbed her eyes. “Fine. If you insist. Thank you.” She turned to the door to see me. “Oh sweetheart, there you are. What kept you?”   
I rubbed the towel against my hair, remembering too late that it was braided so I just messed it up. “A cat almost killed me.”   
Mama quirked an eyebrow at her, “A cat? A cat tried to kill you?”   
“Yes, it was a huge black cat; it tripped me on the stairs.”   
Elizabeth chuckled softly. “Oh no Dear, he wasn't trying to kill you. At least, I don't think so. Mouser can be a bit unpredictable.”   
“Mouser?” I stared at Elizabeth like she had grown a second head. “You have a cat named Mouser?”   
Elizabeth nodded. “Come on, let’s get you two settled in your rooms.”   
We followed Elizabeth up the huge spiral staircase with the glowing mahogany wood. “Elizabeth, I have to say I love how the house looked so dark and sinister, but was so bright and sweet too.”  
Elizabeth laughed softly. “You know, when I first came here, the house was dilapidated. When I started restoring it with my husband, I wanted to incorporate some of the Dhampir side. So that is why it looks the way it does.”  
I frowned a little as we walked by some paintings on the first landing. “You mean, great grandfather was human?”   
Elizabeth nodded and paused on the stairs and tapped a large picture of a handsome man. “Nicholas. I met him in Tennessee. He was so smart and kind though, but I was so frightened of him. Back then, I was young even for Dhampir years. And he seemed so much older and wiser, like he had lived 100 years before even meeting me.” She sighed a little. “He was a good man. I wish you two had gotten to meet him.”   
She turned to us, looking wistful. “That is one of the downsides of being a Dhampir, you lose so many people. Humans, have only so long on this Earth, while Dhampirs are not immortal, but we don't age as fast as normal humans.” She sighed softly, took another look at the picture and started walking again. I felt horrible that I had opened up such a wound and decided to break the silence.   
“Elizabeth, how did you get your cat? I would think that thing would have wandered off at some point.”  
Elizabeth laughed softly, not as cheerful as before, but it made me feel better. “I always thought so too, but he just stays there. I got Mouser and his two siblings about 4 years ago, this stray cat showed up one day. She was dirty but looked fat. I assumed she belonged to someone, so I called the SPCA, but they said I lived beyond Monroe county lines and I would have to call Knox County for them to come and get the cat. But that is about an hour away so, I just left her on the porch and gave her food, I figured that she would get some food into her and go on her merry way. But she was still there the next day. She stayed about a week and then disappeared. I thought she had gone back to where she belonged, but when I came out to water the flowers the next day, I heard this rustling under the porch. I crawled underneath and low and behold, there was the cat with 3 kittens. I brought them inside, put them in the laundry room and they stayed there for about 2 weeks. Then one morning, the cat was gone and the kittens were still there. They still needed sustenance so; I got some milk supplement and bottle-fed them until they could be weaned. Once they were eating dry food, Mouser moved outside, he only comes in the house when it snows. Max and Maisie live in the house with me. You know I was surprised, as a Dhampir, I didn't think animals would like me. They hate vampires, but these 3 seem to be quite comfortable.”  
I smiled a little. “Maybe I can talk mom into getting me a cat when we move. Hint, hint.”   
Mama shook her head. “Doubtful kiddo. And besides, doubt the school will let you have pets.”   
Elizabeth laughed at our banter. “Ok, Grace this is your room.” Elizabeth pushed the door open to a large room with an even larger bed. It had a white comforter draped over the top of the bed, and two red stained wooden end tables. One had a white table lamp and a blue clock in the shape of snowflake. Two sets of doors sat near the bed  
Mama gasped. “This is really too much for me Elizabeth, this room is-”  
“Nonsense!” Elizabeth said as she stepped further into the room. “It’s just perfect. Now, this is the closet.” She opened the door near the bed revealing a rainbow of garments hung up. “I never know when I'm getting visitors, so I always try to make sure I have a variety of extra clothes. I'm sure something in there will fit you. I'm sorry to say there is no TV in here, but the end tables have quite a few books in them.” She moved to a door that was next to the closet. “This is the bathroom; it’s adjoined with Amaia’s room so you guys will be sharing.”   
The bathroom was almost as big as the bedroom and had a sunken whirlpool tub with separate shower. Mama managed to stutter out her thanks to which Elizabeth merely patted her shoulder. “Well then, let’s move on to Amaia’s room.”   
We stepped out Mama’s room and walked a few feet down the hall to the room next door When Elizabeth opened the door, I felt like breaking into the song Time Warp from Rocky Horror. The room was right out of the 1970’s; right down to the large colorful flowers on the wallpaper, which should have looked hideous, but it really brought the room together. There was a large white four poster bed with the posts almost touching the ceiling. A simple pink comforter was draped on the bed along with some throw pillows. Large white end tables stood on either side of the bed with heart shaped lamp sitting on one and a flower shaped alarm clock on the other. Two chairs sat in the room, one overstuffed next to the end table and a rocking chair across from the bed next to a small tray table that held some small knickknacks.   
Elizabeth smiled as we walked in. “This used to be Caroline’s room when she was younger. I hope you like it Amaia.”   
I nodded my head, not really up to saying anything, I mean, really what could I say? Thanks for the blast to the past?   
Elizabeth smiled again, but it was almost sad this time. “I'm glad you like it. Over here is the closet, most of what it is in there is Caroline’s old things, but I'm sure you can find a few things that are wearable. Bathroom is through the door over there and again, no TV, but plenty of books in the end tables.” I moved in front of her to open the closet and I heard her gasp softly. When I turned to look at her, the sad little smile was more prominent on her face. She cleared her throat. “Well, dinner will be at 6:30, so come on down about that time. If you need anything, there is an intercom system at the end of the hall, you can call Vera. I'll be on the third floor. See you at dinner.”   
I had a feeling, as I watched Elizabeth leave, that being in the room had very much shaken her. She obviously didn't come into the room a lot and seeing me walk in front of her must have made her think of Grandmother Caroline. I sat down on the bed and bounced a little. “It was hard for her to be in this room.” I said to Mama who was sifting through the closet trying to find me something to wear.   
She stopped rifling and moved out of the walk-in closet. “I agree, it was hard. But it’s hard for anyone to come back to the past. Just like for us when we leave. You can never really go back again.”   
Wait what? “So, you mean when we come back for a visit, Taylor and I won't be friends anymore?”  
Mama sat down next to me and draped her arm around my shoulders. “You could potentially not be baby. That's just the way things go sometimes. You guys are going to move forward, make new friends and your lives are going to be on different paths. But that is life, nothing stays stagnate.”   
A loud crash of thunder over the house seemed to drive Mama’s point home. I jumped, and Mama’s arm around my shoulders tightened. “Even storms know things can never stay still. Rain brings change, wind brings change.”   
I sighed softly and allowed myself a few tears to drip down my cheeks. “I don't want it to change.”   
Mama laughed softly and kissed the top of my hair. “No one ever does. But it will change; you can either change with it, or stay standing and miss out on what it has to offer. Now, why don't you lie down and get some rest, I'll come get you for dinner.”   
I wasn't really tired, but Mama was already helping me lay down. Maybe a nap would be a good thing. She kissed my head and went out the door. She left the door open a bit, enough that I heard her voice say in surprise and with some irritation, “ Sorry, Mother I thought you were downstairs, Elizabeth said you were busy.”   
Grandmother’s voice replied. “I was, but I wanted to come and check on you and Amaia. How is she?”   
I heard shuffling of feet, Mama was standing in front of the door. Oh boy. She used to that when I was little, I remember being four or five years old and Mama blocking the door so Grandmother couldn't get in to check on me. “She's fine, just resting. I was going to go lay down myself.” Mama’s hinting tone in her voice could not have been more blatant. Unless she was wearing a sign that said: Get away from me!   
“Well I will just walk you to your room; I want to speak to you if you don't mind.” Grandmother said in a firm voice.   
Mama sighed softly, sounding so tired. “Really I don't have energy to argue or fight with you, I just want to-”   
“I don't want to fight either; I just want to talk to you. I don't think you realize what you and Amaia are getting yourselves into. What you are throwing away.”   
I heard their footsteps retreating, I leapt off the bed and ran to the bathroom. I opened the bathroom door on my side and went to the one on Mama’s side and pressed my ear to the door. Yes, I am eavesdropping, sue me, I am a fifteen year old curious teenager.   
“-Don't want to talk about this in the hall where Amaia is going to hear you.”  
I heard the main door shut, the sound of footsteps and the bed groan softly. “I think this whole situation is ridiculous! You are dragging that poor child away from everything she has ever known to please my crazy bat of a Mother.” Grandmother said.   
“Ok, this is so not how I pictured this conversation.” Mama sounded further away, she must still be by the door.   
Grandmother huffed. “You know I hate when you launch into your silly teen talk.”   
I could hear the smirk in Mama’s voice when she said. “Well, you do what you gotta do sometimes. Now, I hate to cut you off, but I am sure you have to get going.”   
“You can't let her manipulate you and Amaia into this Grace. You need to be strong for Amaia and tell my Mother that you have no plans to go anywhere. This is not good, all it’s going to do is put ideas in Amaia’s head. And I ask you, how she is supposed to function in a normal world when she is going to be walking around with crazy ideas that is beyond comprehension. I don't understand why you want to do this when it means, that the poor child is losing what little stability she had, or the friends she is going to lose that kept her grounded. Lord knows she never got that from you.”   
Silence yawned like a great maw in the room. But it also crackled with anger. I scooted a few inches away from the door worried that if Mama got close to it, she would reenact the Carrie scene and blow it off the hinges.   
A cold hard voice rose, closer than before and when it spoke, the hair rose up on the back of my neck. “But it’s not for you to understand is it Mother? Because you are not going. So it’s fine for you to sit there and preach about the choices that I'm making about her future. But I am her mother. And as I said 14 years ago when we finally left your house, you will never again have the power over me or my daughter. She is her own person as I am.   
I heard footsteps moving closer and then the sound of feet shuffling away. “And while we are dredging up what is good and not good for my child; could you possibly explain to me why, when I would come to you with questions about stuff the baby was doing, you never felt the need to tell me what she was? Not even when she bit down on her lip so hard she broke the skin, you know, when CPS had to do a home visit because they thought she was being abused.”   
The shuffling feet moved faster and the footsteps did too. “I also wonder, Mother Dear, why you think she gets no stability from me, when in reality, it’s you that haven't given her the stability she needed, the truth she needed! And to me! Your own daughter!”  
Grandmother started to stutter something, but she was too far away for me to hear. Mama cut her off anyway with her hard voice. “I am not going to let you stop me, not now, not ever. We are going and I hope you can respect that. If not, then get out of my way.” I heard the door bang open. “Now if you will excuse me. I would like to rest before dinner.”   
Grandmother’s voice was far away now, almost tinny. “You are going to ruin her Gracie. Don't do this. If you have to go and see what it is all about then go. But leave Amaia here. She can't become a part of that circus, not when she could have a shot at a normal life.”   
Mama replied, almost soothing. “A life of lies is not how I am going to let my daughter live, even if you think it’s better to take the easy way out. That has never been my style. As Robert Frost said: I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” With that, the door shut very firmly. Mama walked around the room, grumbling to herself. I slid away from the door, went through my door and shut it very softly. To think my Mama stood up to Grandmother. I never thought I would see the day.   
I flopped down on the bed and tried very hard to do what Mama suggested. But after about 10 minutes of tossing and turning on the bed, I realized that trying to nap in a dress was not happening for me. I got up and went to the closet. A particular loud crash of thunder made me jump, but I got the closet open and started rifling through it. The closet was so packed that stuff fell out and skittered across the hardwood floor. "I'll get that later.”   
After sifting through some clothes, I finally found a pair of jeans and t-shirt. I slid off my sandals and grabbed my small handbag. I pulled out my phone pressed the small button on the top and breathed a sigh of relief when it glowed with power. I flopped back onto the bed and punched in Taylor’s number. I had to tell her what was going on, if nothing else, so she would know not to expect me back to school on Tuesday.   
Taylor picked up with her normally cheerful. “Lo!”  
I smiled. “Hey Tay, what's up?”   
“Mai! My girl! How are things your way? I tried calling the house earlier but you didn't answer. You ok?”   
“Yeah I'm good; we just had to take a trip.” I filled her in to everything that had happened, skipping the part about the fact that I'm a Dhampir, I mean, I didn't want to give her a heart attack. Besides, Taylor wouldn't believe it at all, I barely did. “So, Elizabeth thought of Mom when she found out that her friend's kids didn't want to continue running the store. I think Mama is really considering taking the job.” The silence from Taylor had me pacing around the bed.  
Taylor’s voice crackled over the phone. “Well, I mean, do you want to go? This is a HUGE decision Mai, you can't just say you want to leave everything behind and go.”   
“Of course I don't want to just go, but I mean, I don't really have a choice. I have to go where Mama goes. And you know, I think it would be good for my mom. Lord knows she doesn't get along with Grandmother Caroline at all. I think a breath of fresh air would do us both some good.”  
Taylor went quiet, so quiet I thought my phone had died. So I jumped when I heard her trembling voice say “I just hate to see you go off into that wild blue yonder without me.”   
I sighed in relief. “I don't want to go without you either Tay, but I mean, we can call, text, email, Skype, Face Time, and Snap Chat! Any of the wide variety of technological advances that have been made in the way of communication.”   
Taylor laughed as I hoped she would. “So you want me to come over and help you pack up your junk?”   
I bit her lip. This was going to be the hardest part because while I did want her to come over and help, I was worried something would slip. And the Queen of Secrets Taylor ain’t.   
“At this point, I think we're just packing clothes and few other small things. So, I think I will be ok; but do you want to do me a favor?”  
Taylor’s voice came out small but with a push of cheerfulness. “I guess I could.”  
I smiled, “If I bring a box over to your house tomorrow, will you clear out my locker for me. Since I'm not allowed on school premises.”   
“Do I have permission to raid it for anything incriminating and/or embarrassing that I can post on Facebook later?”   
“Only if I have permission to thoroughly and quickly beat your ass next time I see you.”   
Taylor laughed. “Noted.”   
I leaned back on the bed and sighed softly. “How are you feeling Tay?”   
“I'm fine really; I'm not hurting as much. I get to go back to school on Monday to show off my battle wounds. I am sure I will have an adoring crowd to throw rose petals at my feet as I humbly accept the minion’s offers of sympathy.”   
I had to laugh at that image. “Well, just remember to pause your acceptance of sympathy long enough to clear out my locker?”   
“I think I will have one of my minions do it, you don't have any undies or bras in there do you?”   
I gasped. “Taylor! No! Good lord, get your mind out of the gutter.”   
“Shame, good bargaining tool for the minions you know.”   
With a shake of my head, I said goodbye, hung up the phone and stared up at the canopy above my head. So much had happened; throwing Taylor into a locker, finding out my true self, moving. It was all so overwhelming. I did need a nap. It would do me good, just a 15 minute nap.  
The door creaking opened is what woke me up. I'm not sure how long I had been sleeping, but the storm had calmed down a little. But I could still hear the grumble of thunder, the tapping of rain and the room was darker than it had been earlier.  
I sat up and looked around the room. I couldn't see anything, but the door had opened I heard it. And it was wide enough that someone or something had come through it. I flipped my legs off of the bed and put them down onto the cold floor which made me hiss.  
A rustling noise caught my attention. My breath caught in my throat as I looked over at the closet; there was something moving around in the there. I took a deep breath, grabbed my phone, turned on the flashlight app and shined it near the closet. I had left it opened a bit when I had finished hunting for clothes to wear, but now, it was opened more. I moved towards the closet on trembling legs, still holding the phone near the closet, the light washing across the floor.   
The rustling sound increased, I wanted to scream and run from the room, but I needed to know what was inside. As I moved closer, my foot hit something soft. I shined the light down and saw an umbrella that had fallen out of the closet. I leaned down, picked it up and very slowly opened the closet door with it.   
And then I screamed.   
I'm not sure what happened after that, I do know that I managed to get onto the bed as I screamed, waving the umbrella like it was weapon of mass destruction.   
When the door swung opened and light flooded the room, I looked over at the door to see Mama and Elizabeth standing in the door way with their mouths hanging opened. But their gaze was not on me, it was on the closet. Still screaming, I followed their gaze where a large brown cat was sitting and watching me from the closet. The cat clearly had a look on its face like I had lost my mind. Mama yelled out over my shrieking. “Amaia! What are you doing?!”   
I pressed my lips together to stop screaming, then jabbed the umbrella into the air towards the cat. “I-I, thought there was something in the closet, so-so I opened the door. And that-that THING jumped out at me!”   
Elizabeth walked into the room towards the closet as Mama walked to the bed to help me down. Elizabeth lifted the cat into her arms and nuzzled it. “Amaia, you are going to be quite the warrior I think." I could hear the amusement in her voice. "This is Max by the way.”   
Once my feet were on solid ground, I felt a blush spread across my cheeks. “He’s a cat.”   
Elizabeth looked down at the cat and smiled. “He certainly is.”   
I felt so dumb there were no words. I rubbed my hand across my face. “I'm sorry; I thought it was something else, I had fallen asleep and when I woke up I heard creaking and rustling. I thought it was...something else. Not a cat.”   
Elizabeth smiled. “Well, no harm done. I am sure you took a life or 2 off of Max though.”  
I laughed weakly, wanting to say that the cat probably took more years off of mine than I did of his. “I'm going to splash some water on my face, I'll be right back.” I grabbed my little handbag, walked into the bathroom and turned on the water. I looked into the mirror and almost jumped a foot. My hair was standing on end, parts of the braid had come out and now it looked like my hair was a haystack. Good god, if I had died from fright, there is no way I would have had an open casket. I undid the braid and splashed water on my face. I opened my handbag and took out my little comb I always have in it. I ran it under the water and started combing the snarls out of my hair. I had left the door open, so I was able to hear Mama say. “I'm sorry about that.”   
Elizabeth chuckled warmly as I pulled my hair back into my hand and wound my rubber band around it. “I'm not; it shows she is made of sterner stuff. Instead of running, she rose up and faced the challenge. Even though she thought it was a Vampire in there, not Max.”   
“How did you know she thought it was a Vampire?”   
Elizabeth laughed in a soft tinkling way that made me frown. How did she know I thought it was a Vampire?   
“It was the way she kept saying she thought it was something else, but never saying what the something else was.” I heard the thump of Max being put on the ground and rubbed my hands against my cheeks to bring some color to them. “Though I think someone should tell her that Vampires are not afraid of umbrellas, especially pink ones.”  
Mama laughed a little. “I'm surprised she held on to that thing. She drops anything that can be construed as a weapon. Once, when she and Taylor were playing in the front yard, with these Nerf swords and were just bopping each other. Well, Taylor decided to make it for real and challenged Amaia to a sword fight. The second Taylor said that sword was a weapon, Amaia dropped it.”   
“Really? Interesting. I wonder-”   
Ok, enough of going down memory lane, I gave myself one more cursory look and stepped out of the bathroom. “Well, I'm hungry.”   
Elizabeth glanced at the small gold watch on her wrist, and moved to the door. “Good, because it’s going on 6:30 now, Mrs. Petrie should have dinner ready.”   
When we arrived in the dining room, four places had been set. Elizabeth sat down at the head of the table, I sat on the left side of her, Mama sat next to me and Grandmother sat across from us.   
Dinner was a very quiet affair. It was mostly myself and Elizabeth talking. I am sure the reason why was because Grandmother was mad at Mama, and probably Elizabeth. And I'm sure Mama was mad at Grandmother.   
Elizabeth had been in the middle of a fascinating story about the first time she went to New York. She was spinning a tale of glitz and glamour, but tapered off as Vera brought out the bowls full of hardy stew.   
Once she set down a bowl in front of us, she brought over a large bowl of rolls and set some pitchers in the middle of the table. One had tea in it and the other water. Vera looked at us and said in her sawdust voice. “Is there anything else I can get ma'am?”   
Elizabeth shook her head and unfolded her napkin. “No thank you Vera.” Vera nodded and left the room. I looked over at Mama who was swirling it around with her spoon, Grandmother was pouring water into her glass and Elizabeth was buttering a roll. I scooped up a spoonful of stew and took a bite. Oh that was good. Mrs. Petrie knew how to cook that was for sure. I ate a few more bites and then looked over at Mama. She was still stirring the stew around staring at the various chunks of vegetables and meat.   
The silence was overwhelming. I had to do something. I cleared my throat and looked at Elizabeth. “Elizabeth, do Dhampirs drink blood like Vampires?”  
Grandmother went into a coughing fit and then dabbed her lips with her napkin. “Amaia, I don't think that is proper dinner talk. I think we should just eat our dinner and relax.”   
Mama shot a glare at Grandmother, her cheeks were turning so red I thought it would light her hair on fire. “Who are you to dictate what we discuss at dinner? I, for one, am interested in the answer.” She looked at Elizabeth expectantly.   
Elizabeth looked at me. She had a funny little smile on her face, almost like she wanted to goad Grandmother a little. “Well Amaia, Dhampirs do not drink blood. We do however need to eat raw meat. Not every day, maybe once or twice a week. It helps us stay healthy and strong. "   
I couldn't help but be relieved that I wouldn't suddenly start to crave or need blood. "I'm glad to hear that, because I really don't think I could have done it." I said. And really, I can't imagine myself tackling some poor soul to the ground and sucking their blood, yech!  
Elizabeth laughed softly. "I'm glad I was able to relieve your mind. Anything else you want to ask? I'll try an answer what I can." Elizabeth asked smiling.  
I shook my head "Guess it also explains why Mama and I love our hamburgers rare." Mama laughed softly and I started eating again.   
Mama, however, looked at Grandmother, but spoke to Elizabeth. “I am glad you answered the question, I was wondering that myself.”   
Grandmother’s face flushed with anger “I was not saying the child could not ask a question. I was merely suggesting, that if she wants to ask a question about that…particular topic, it would be better to do so when we are not trying to enjoy a nice dinner.”   
“Well I think that talking about what we are is a perfectly fine dinner topic.” Mama snapped back.  
“I disagree with you; I think we need to wait to discuss this another time.” Grandmother took a dainty sip of her water.   
“Oh Mother, why don't you just shut up!”   
Grandmother gasped and stood up. “Well why don't you shut up! All I am suggesting is that this is not the best conversation to have when we are trying to eat dinner!” Grandmother slammed her water glass down which caused it to shatter, water fumed across the table in a huge lake. “Now see what you made me do!”   
Mama looked furious. “What I made you do?! You did it yourself!” She grabbed a roll from the bread basket and threw it right at Grandmother. Grandmother let out a squawk as it hit her on the forehead and fell backwards into her chair, which crashed to the floor. “She attacked me! Call the Police!”   
I stared at the whole thing frozen in my seat. The only thing I managed to do was scoot away from the table so the water wouldn't drip on my clothes. Mama went around the table, holding the bowl of rolls. She pulled them out and started throwing them at Grandmother who was still on the floor. “You are just an old bat! I never liked you!”   
Grandmother managed to pull herself to her feet and started throwing the rolls back at Mama yelling. “You are an ungrateful daughter! No respect!”   
I ducked as a roll flew towards me and when I lifted my head up, Mama let out a scream and went for Grandmother’s dark locks. Grandmother let out a screech when her hair was grabbed and started hitting Mama with her hands. “Let go of me! LET GO I SAY!”   
I was so transfixed by the scene in front of me, I didn't even notice when Elizabeth stood up and grabbed the pitcher of water. I saw her walk over to them and suddenly, the water was dumped over their heads. “That! Is! Enough!”   
The screaming stopped as Mama and Grandmother stared at her, water dripping down their faces. I bit my lip to keep from laughing, they both looked ridiculous.  
Elizabeth slammed the pitcher down onto the table and glared at them. “Grace, Caroline, this is childish behavior! You two are adults! I would expect this behavior out of someone Amaia’s age, not you two! My God with all the noise you two are making, a Vampire could have walked in here without anyone knowing!”   
I must have made some noise which brought Elizabeth to my side. She patted me gently. “Sweetheart, there is no Vampire coming in here, I promise you. I have many safety precautions set up."  
I nodded my head and smiled. “I'm ok.” She nodded her head, put her hands on her hips and glared at Mama and Grandmother.  
“Well, I would like to say that I have never seen such behavior. This is not about you two and your petty ante bullshit, this is about Amaia and what is best for her. Now clean this mess up! Amaia and I will get back to dinner.” With another glare of disapproval at the two Elizabeth grabbed our bowls and hustled me to the kitchen. Mrs. Petrie sat us down at the small table and we ate the stew. She felt bad that there were no more rolls, but she went and got us the pitcher of tea so we were quite content.   
Once we were done eating, Vera came into the kitchen and announced that the dining room was clean, but Mama and Grandmother had decided to go to their rooms for the evening. Elizabeth smiled a little. “A fitting end to the evening I would say.” She stood up. “Amaia, why don't you go to the library? There are plenty of books to amuse yourself, unwind before you head for bed.” I nodded my head and went out of the kitchen, through the dining room and across the hall to the library.   
For such a large room, it was quite cozy. Books covered almost every available space, a fire crackled in the fireplace. I scanned each bookcase looking for something to read. I spotted an older book at a high shelf and stood on my tiptoes to get it down. I was stretching as high as I could when I felt something warm and furry rub against my leg. I yelped in fright and fell onto my butt, the book crashed next to me. I looked over to a ginger cat licking its paws. “You scared me.” I said softly. The cat looked at me and yawned and then rubbed its head against the book.   
I smiled. “I am known to do many things, but reading a story to a cat is not one of them.” The cat looked at me with huge yellow eyes and yawned again. I pulled myself to my feet, lifted the book up and looked it over. It wasn't one book per se, it seemed to be a lot of little books bound together, almost like journals. I untied the ribbon holding them together and went to the chair in front of the fire. The cat hopped into my lap after I sat down and meowed at me. I sighed softly and started rubbing my fingers down the back of its neck and under the chin as it purred like a motor. I was just scratching it down the back when Elizabeth walked in. She smiled at me, walked over and rubbed the cat too. She had changed into her nightclothes, or appeared to since she was wearing a robe.  
"I see you found Maisie."  
I nodded. “Actually, she found me.” I explained how it came about that Maisie was in my lap.   
Elizabeth smiled. “She knew you needed a friend.” She took my hand into her own. “Sweetheart, don't let your mother and grandmother get to you. Your Grandmother is afraid of what she is, and your mother confused and angry at Caroline for never telling her. They have a prickly relationship anyway so I think this just added fuel to the fire. Everything is going to be just fine. I promise you.”   
I nodded and stroked Maisie’s back gently with my free hand. “I just wish things could go back to what they were before.”   
Elizabeth smiled. "I am sorry you’re having to deal with all of this at once but there is no going back to not knowing, a man once said. The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”  
I smiled, a real one, for the first time in a while. “Albert Einstein said that.”   
Elizabeth nodded. “Yes, yes he did, he was a very smart man.” She sighed softly “There is another quote that I want you to know, keep it close to your heart and always remember it.” She cleared her throat gently and said. “You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor, Aristotle.”   
I nodded and Elizabeth smiled. “I am asking you to remember it because where you are going, you are going to need your courage and strength. You have a lot of both, so never lose heart when things are going wrong, because you will find your footing.”   
I nodded and hugged Elizabeth much to Maisie’s chagrin. “Thank you Grandmother.”   
Elizabeth kissed my head gently. “Now, I am sending you to bed. It has been a long day and probably a longer night.”   
I nodded, lifted Maisie into her arms and went upstairs. I found a pair of jammies in a drawer, went and said goodnight to Mama and went to bed. Maisie and Max were nice enough to join me.


	3. Chapter 3

Elizabeth awoke early the next morning as was her habit. She had hoped that the rain would have tapered off during the night. When she had gone to bed after talking to Amaia in the library, the storm had still been raging. And when she had gone downstairs later, the storm had doubled back to hit the house again. She had gone back downstairs to get the journals that Amaia had found. She had left two of them on the table, but lifted another into her hand. She had flipped to the back pages, stared at them for a long moment and then ripped 2 of them out of the book. She folded them in half and shoved them into the pocket of her robe. She ripped out a third and tossed it into the low burning fire in front of her. She watched as the flames leaped to consume the paper. When that was done, she closed the book, gathered it up with the other two and went back upstairs. 

The storm was over now, but the rain still pattered against the window. Elizabeth swung her legs over the side of bed, pushed them into her slippers, and then heaved herself to her feet. She grabbed her robe that was tossed over the footboard of her canopy bed, tugged it on over her nightgown and moved towards the door. She was ready for her coffee this morning that was for sure. And she didn’t want to think about the papers still in her pocket. After last night’s little interlude, she was ready for her coffee.

When she stepped down onto the second floor, she paused for a moment, and then moved down the hall to where Amaia was sleeping and pushed open the door. Light from the hall spilled into the room and illuminated her great granddaughter lying on the bed, Max curled up against her back and Maisie draped over her feet. Apparently, despite the tumult night before, Amaia had no trouble sleeping. Ah, the resilience of youth. Elizabeth gently shut the door and walked down the stairs to where Vera stood in the kitchen. She turned and smiled at Elizabeth, her thin lips stretching across her bony face as she handed her a mug. She took the mug with a smile of her own. Closing her eyes and taking her first sip, perfect as usual. 

“What shall I have Mrs. Petrie make for breakfast?” Vera asked in her dusty voice. 

“I spoke to her last night before I went to bed, so that is all set. Is there anything else?”

“Yes Ma'am. Anthony called earlier, he was just checking in so no need to return his call. He also said Aiden is not overjoyed with the plan.” 

Elizabeth let a smile play across her lips. “Why am I not surprised by that? I'm going to go sit on the porch Vera, please let anyone that wakes up know that I am indisposed and I will join them for breakfast.” 

Vera nodded and Elizabeth turned to head outside. It was her habit to sit on the porch with her morning coffee and watch the sun come up, or just sit and enjoy the quiet of the garden and the little animals that visited. She sat down in her porch swing and took a sip of her coffee; she tipped her feet slightly to set the swing into motion. 

She had almost finished her coffee when she heard the front door open. Elizabeth puffed out a breath, she was enjoying her alone time. “Vera, I told you that I-, Caroline.” Elizabeth could not have been more shocked to see her daughter in the doorway, holding a mug. “Well good morning.” 

Caroline gave her mother a small smile. “Good morning, sorry I'm intruding, but I had to speak to you this morning.” Caroline moved towards the swing and Elizabeth sighed again as she stopped the swing and sat up straighter. “Caroline, I really do not want to argue with you this morning.” 

“Nor do I, I'm not here to argue.” Caroline sat down in the pretty cushioned patio chair across from the swing and set her coffee on the wicker table. “I tossed and turned all night and into this morning. When I heard you get up, I knew I had to speak with you.” Caroline twisted her hands together unconsciously as she talked. “I'm sorry for my behavior last night and for my past behavior. You were right when you said that the only important thing is Amaia.” 

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows after the small speech. “I find your sudden change of heart a little suspicious; did you have a near death experience that I don't know about?” 

Caroline huffed out a breath. “No I didn't. Just a rotten night of sleep, followed by all these jumbled thoughts. About sunrise I realized that you were right, I need to let go of trying to change things because it’s not going to do any good. Amaia needs to be safe if something is happening. You and Grace have made the decision and I just have to live with it.” 

“It’s funny, you come out here saying you don't want to argue, but this is starting to feel like one.” Caroline opened her mouth but Elizabeth waved her hand. “But this is a good thing. I am sorry you don't like what is going on, but this is for the best. And remember, no matter what happens, I am doing what I believe is best to keep everyone safe. You should trust me.” 

“I do trust you, I just hate this situation. I never wanted to be different, and I didn't want Amaia or Grace to be different either.” 

“Being different is nothing to be ashamed of. You have always let that control you Caroline. The fear that if someone saw even a wrinkle in your façade that they were going to tie you to the nearest tree and burn you at the stake.” 

“That’s witches.” Caroline said softly. 

Elizabeth ignored her and pressed on. “You miss my point. Being different only affects you if you let others know you care what they think, but most of the time, no one is paying attention. Remember what Eleanor Roosevelt said, No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

“Must you quote things at me? You do it constantly and now Grace is starting to do it.” 

“Because it drives home the point I'm trying to make. Now if we are quite finished here, I would like to finish my coffee in peace and then have breakfast with Grace and Amaia.” 

Caroline made no motion to move or even leave. “What are your plans?” 

Elizabeth lowered her cup. “I beg your pardon?” 

“You seem to have everything planned out for Amaia and Grace, but what are you going to do to keep yourself safe.” 

“I have business that needs to be attended to. Something that I think may explain what is going on, to some extent.” 

“I want to go with you.” 

Elizabeth blinked her eyes in stunned disbelief. “What?” She asked just to be sure she heard right.

Caroline nodded. “Whatever it is, I want to go with you. I may not support or like this plan, but I want to know what is going on just as much as anyone else.” 

Elizabeth leaned back in the swing and closed her eyes. It seemed to Caroline that she was having an internal battle with herself. When she finally opened her eyes, she nodded. “You can come with me. You have fresh eyes and might see something in this matter I have missed.” Elizabeth took a drink of her coffee and made a face as it was lukewarm now, so she put it on the table. Then after looking at her daughter considering the pros and cons, reached into the pocket of her robe and pulled out some crumpled papers. She handed them over to Caroline who opened the papers up and pressed her hand down to smooth them out. After reading for a few seconds, she blinked her eyes. 

“These are-”

“We both know what they are Caroline, there is no reason to tell the whole world.” 

Caroline stared at the papers for a long moment before looking up at Elizabeth. “What is your plan?” 

 

When I opened my eyes, I hoped that the sun would be shining and birds would be singing, possibly a deer walking by to munch on some of the bushes. I also hoped that everything Elizabeth had revealed had been some horrible nightmare. Instead, I woke up in a strange bed with two cats curled up next to me. The sky was an ashen color and rain pelted the window; not even a hint of sun appeared. 

“Well so much for that hope.” I muttered to myself. I huffed out a half of laugh and rubbed my eyes. I also tried to stretch, but with Max pressed against my back and Maisie draped over my feet, movement was impossible. 

I couldn’t lay here all day though, I needed to get up. I wiggled away from the weight against my back, just enough to reach my phone which was on the end table next to me. I clicked the button on the side which revealed the time to be 7:30 am. 

“Oh come on!” I groaned loudly and flopped back onto the bed much to Max’s displeasure. “Too early! I am a teenager; this is not conducive to my supposedly 12 hour sleep schedule.” I drug my feet from under Maisie and swung them onto the floor. 

I stood up and looked back at the cats, “Are you guys getting up?” Max was already curling up to continue his sleep, Maisie yawned and blinked her eyes at me. “Well fine then, go back to sleep, I need a shower.” 

As I passed by the large window next to the bed, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. The roof of the porch blocked the view, so I kneeled down to try and see what the movement was. 

I tilted my head back and forth before being able to see two figures sitting very close together. It was Grandmother Caroline and Elizabeth. They appeared to be in a deep discussion. I wondered if I could get the window open just a little too…NO! Oh Hell NO! I took a step back from the window and looked at the cats. 

“You know guys; I am really tired of digging into things and getting more than what I bargained for, so in this instance, I am walking away.”

I went into the bathroom fast, determined not to pay any mind to what was being discussed below. 

After my shower, I did my hair into a fairly presentable bun, pulled on my freshly laundered dress, straightened the room, grabbed my handbag and made my way down the hall to Mama’s room. I tapped on the door lightly with no answer. I tapped again, a little louder. I was about to start pounding, when the door swung open to reveal Mama. Her shoulder length hair was mussed and she looked annoyed as she tried to pull a robe on.

“Little Girl, what are you doing banging on doors at…whatever hell .time it happens to be?” 

I blinked my eyes. “Sorry Mama, I was just seeing if you were awake.” 

She she narrowed her still half asleep eyes at me. “Do I look awake to you? 

I gave her a long look and nodded. “Yes.” 

She gave me a dirty look and slammed the door in my face. I turned away from the door and covered my mouth to hide my giggles. And Mama wondered where my morning grumpiness came from.

I took myself and my giggles downstairs. All was quiet, Grandmother and Elizabeth must still be out on the porch. I turned to go into the dining room, but went the other direction to the library. The fire was a dim glow of embers now, but it was still warm. I sat down in the chair to look at the books I left sitting on the small table. But they were gone. Ok, that was weird. I kneeled down to look under the table, to see if they fell down when I heard a creaky voice say, “Can I help you Miss?”

I drew my head up fast, almost hitting the table to see Vera standing in the doorway. Well there was a face I didn’t want to see this early. 

“Um I don’t think so...wait. Vera, does Elizabeth have some earbuds or headphones around here?” 

Vera moaned softly, it sounded like she was in pain, but apparently it was her thinking moan. “The desk would probably have something to that effect, look in there.” She pointed one, long bony finger towards the large white desk in the corner. 

When she left the doorway, I went over to the desk. I hesitated for a second only because this was not my desk, it seemed rude to just rifle through it. On the other hand, Vera said I could and there was no sign that said: Do not enter. 

I opened the first drawer looking through the various things. After a few drawer searches, I realized that this was not a real desk, it was more of a junk desk. Where the catch-all stuff landed. When I opened one of the smaller drawers, a small pair of pink earbuds (still in the package) rolled into view. 

“Pay dirt!” I pulled them out and opened the package. I pulled out the tiny earbuds and walked back over the chair. I pulled out my iPod, plugged in the earbuds and turned on some music. Bruno Mars blared out at me with Grenade. I sat down in the chair and grabbed a book from the table and opened it up. Not really what I would have read, but not half bad. 

I must have been sitting there reading for about 20 minutes when a hand touched my shoulder. I let out a shriek, dropped the book, jumped out of the chair and pressed myself against the wall. Mama stood in front of me laughing.

I yanked the headphones off and sucked in a breath. “You scared me!” 

Mama looked at me and started to laugh harder. “You should have seen your face, your eyes were this big; they looked like dinner plates.” Mama kept hooting as Grandmother appeared in the doorway. “What is going on?” She asked looking between me and my cackling mother. 

Mama took a breath and told Grandmother what had happened. A small smile touched her lips. “Well, Vera sent me to get you, breakfast is ready.” 

I stood up, put the book on the table and tucked my iPod into my handbag. We walked across the hall to the dining room where Vera had the table set. I sat down in the spot I had been in the night before. Mama sat down next to me, and Grandmother sat down across from us. All was silent except for the noise of Vera setting up a breakfast buffet on the long table behind us. 

I poured some juice from the pitcher in front of me, while Mama poured a cup of coffee from the small silver pot. “I wonder where Elizabeth is this morning.” 

Grandmother unfolded her napkin and set it into her lap. “She will be here momentarily; she said she had to run up to her room for something.” 

“No she didn’t, she is right here.” Elizabeth announced as she came into the room. She sat down at the table. “Gracie, will you please hand me that coffee?” Mama nodded and passed it to me. I handed it to Elizabeth who smiled. “God Bless whoever invented this.” All of us laughed and she smiled deeper. 

After she set down the pot she said, “I thought we would have a nice breakfast before you left, and then I have a gift for you two. But that is for later, I don’t know about anyone else, but I am starving.”

Breakfast was a quiet affair, the loudest sound was the clink of silverware against the plates. Once everyone was finished eating, Mama excused herself to go upstairs to gather what few items she had. I helped Vera clear and then went to sit on the small chair in the foyer to wait. I was eager to get on the road, 5 hours is a long time to sit in the car.

When Mama finally came back downstairs, Elizabeth stepped out of the library smiled. “Well, here you are. Good, it’s going on 9:00, and I really want you to get going.” 

Mama smiled and gave her a hug. “Thank you for all of this Elizabeth.” 

Elizabeth hugged Mama back. I walked over and joined the hug and kissed her cheek.

She smiled and waved her hands, scooting us back. “Now, now, there is no need to thank me. I am just doing right by you two. But, before you go, as I said, I have presents!” 

She reached into a black backpack sitting on the chair. “No Wizard of Oz jokes.” She said as she pulled out a small black box. She handed the box to Mama. “This belong to my mother, I always wanted to give it to Caroline, but circumstances being what they were, it never happened.” 

Mama smiled and opened the box and gasped. I peered over her shoulder to see what was inside the box. It was a small ring crowned with a pink diamond in the shape of a square, surrounded with white diamonds. She looked up at Elizabeth, her eyes round. “I can’t take this, it must be worth a fortune! You should give this to-”

Elizabeth closed her hand around the box and Mama’s hand gently. “I am giving it to exactly who I want. I can’t imagine a better person to get this than you.” Mama sniffed as a few tears escaped her eyes. 

Elizabeth looked at me and smiled brightly. “For you my great-granddaughter, I have something that belonged to someone very close to my heart. I know you will take good care of this.” 

She took my hand in hers and dropped a necklace into it. I flipped my hand around to see pretty necklace with a circular of Pink Diamonds, hanging from the circle, was a line of white diamonds. The whole thing was topped off with a pearl hanging off the end of it. I lifted the necklace to slide it around my neck. “Oh my God, this is so beautiful! I will never take it off ever!”

Mama moved behind me to help close the clasp since my fingers were fumbling. Once she had it closed, she came around to look at it. “That is so beautiful sweetheart.” 

Elizabeth smiled and then reached for the bag again. “I have another gift for you Amaia.”   
Instead of pulling something out of the backpack, Elizabeth lifted it up and handed it to me. “Inside of this bag are my journals. You found them last night and I think you need to read them. It will give you some insight to our family and what we are. Also, you can use the backpack at your school, it’s been embroidered with the school logo.” She tapped the intertwined M and W. “Matilda Williams is what they call the school, after its founders.” 

I smiled and peered into the bag to see the missing books from the night before. “I was wondering what happened to these things.” 

Mama frowned a little, “I thought the Twins started the city and the school.” 

Elizabeth shook her head. “Sarah and Tomas didn’t really believe in education, they had received a fine one, but they wanted to instill more of a….fighting spirit in the new Dhampirs. It wasn’t until Matilda and her husband William, came to the city sometime in the 1900s that a school was established. Matilda, more than William felt that the Dhampirs needed an education as well as a fighting spirit if they were to survive in the changing world.” She turned to me. “But you will learn all of this once you get there; let’s get you two out on the road.” 

We walked outside in the misting rain to the Explorer. I gave Elizabeth another hug and then ran for the car to get inside out of the rain. Mama paused near the car and looked at me. “Do you know where your Grandmother ran off to?” 

“Caroline has decided to stay with me.” Elizabeth said, which made Mama start to open her mouth to say something, but Elizabeth waved her hand. “We will be fine, I want you to concentrate on you and Amaia, let me worry about Caroline and myself.” 

Mama closed her mouth and nodded. Elizabeth hugged her again. “Call me tonight when you get home, I will give you the details of when Amaia is leaving and help you with any details that pertain to closing up the house and such.” Mama nodded again and got into the car, she turned it on and put it in gear. 

I waved at Elizabeth as Mama pulled the car out of the drive. She waved back blinking hard, like she was fighting back tears. I am glad someone else was doing that too, as I was fighting my own. 

Once we got off the dirt road and were back on the pavement, heading for Madisonville. I focused on the the scenery rushing by me. Mama flipped through static for a few minutes before finally settling on a station. After she found the station, she kept looking like she wanted to say something to me, but I guess the look on my face discouraged any conversation. She finally just patted my leg and kept her eyes on the road. 

We were about 20 minutes away from Nashville, when the radio started playing the opening music to Justin Timberlake’s Mirrors. I sighed softly and hummed along with the music, but my mind was far from the music. I couldn’t stop thinking about how fast my life was changing. When I got home, my life was going to consist of packing and trying to say goodbye to the only life I had ever known. And Mama, how in the world could we be separated for even a few days? We were all each other had and now we…..

Sobs started racking my body. Great gulping sobs that made it hard to breathe. 

“Amaia!” Mama gasped as she turned to look at me. Or at least I think she did, I was pretty blinded by tears. “Baby! Are you ok?” This just made me sob harder. 

Mama hissed under her breath. “Son of a bitch! Hold on baby girl.” 

Mama yanked the wheel hard, which made the car shoot across highway towards the nearest exit. Many of the cars took offense to this, which caused them to honk, yell and flip the bird at us.   
Mama responded with her own gestures and shouts of how people could do something that would be anatomically impossible to do with oneself. 

Once the car was off the highway, Mama pulled up to a small diner called the Mt. Juliet Café. She parked the car and got out. She walked around to my side of the car and opened the door. “Come on babe, let’s get something to eat. Warm up a little.” 

I sucked in a breath and nodded. As I got out of the car, Mama gave me a fast hug. “Just go to the bathroom and clean your face up ok? I will get us a table.”

I nodded again and went into the bathroom once we hit the entrance. It was blessedly empty and I went to the sink to splash some water on my face. But once I got there, I almost started screaming. My eyes were pink rimmed and puffy, my nose was swollen and red. I looked like a horror movie character! Lordy. I bent down and took a handful of water and rubbed it on my face. Once I did that a few times, I took a paper towel and scrubbed away the last of the tears. When I lifted my head back up, I was still a little puffy, but looked better than before. I patted my hair and went back out to join Mama. 

I walked over the table that she was sitting at, sipping a soda. She smiled when she saw me. “There now, you look better.” She sipped her soda and looked at me as the waitress brought over mine. What set you off?” 

I shook her head and took a long drink. “Justin Timberlake.” 

Mama rolled her eyes. “Justin does not do that you my love. In fact, Justin is a moron and usually Mirrors is the only song you can stand. So level with me.” 

I sighed inwardly. I sometimes wished that Mama and I weren’t so close in age. While most teenagers could get away with stuff, I couldn’t get away with anything. Mama knew what step I was going to take before I even got there. And usually was waiting with a bat to beat me for doing it in the first place. 

“I was just thinking about leaving you. What are you going to do without me?”

Mama looked at me. “Knock down the walls in your room and build an enclosed porch with a Jacuzzi.” 

I blinked her eyes, “What!?” 

Mama smiled. “Well, I've always wanted one, so why not. I'll buy a fold out couch for when you come to visit." Giving a little wink, she sipped her drink. “Feel better?” She asked 

I smiled and laughed a little. “Yeah, I guess so.” 

“The truth is Amaia; you are going to be so busy you're not going to have time to miss your old Mama. You're going to be experiencing all sorts of new things. Riding a train across country, going to a new school, living in a dorm and let’s not forget making a lot of new friends. Also it’s not going to take me that long to get moved out there, so you're not going to have time to miss me. I'm going to be busy to. I'm going to be getting things packed up and transferred as fast as I can so that it won’t be a long time before we see each other. This is a new adventure for the two of us. And it’s not bad, just different.” 

I nodded and then looked up. “I can still hate it.” 

“Hate it all you want. Hell, I'll even join you, it still won't change a damn thing.” 

I laughed again and Mama took my hand. “See Amaia, people try and tell you that change is so hard that it makes us want to rip our own eyes out of our head. Its bullshit; if we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living.” 

I sighed, “As much as I hate it, you're right.” 

“Always.” Mama said with a smirk.

The waitress walked over to take our order and when she left, I took another sip of my soda. “Who said that quote by the way?” 

Mama sipped her own soda. “Great American author, journalist and lecturer, Gail Sheehy.” 

“I wonder if Elizabeth ever met her personally.” 

“Peek in the journals, you never know.” 

“I think I will. Not now though.” 

“No, now we eat, save the rest for later.” Mama replied. “Though we do need to discuss what needs to go, what can stay for now and what gets put in storage.” 

I frowned. “So soon?” 

Mama nodded. “Yes, we have two weeks to figure it out. And I know how long it takes you to choose things.” 

I sighed softly. “Ummm well I don’t know. I wonder if they provide sleep stuff. I would like to take my comforter if possible.” Mama leaned back in her chair and waved her arm. The waitress walked over. “Could I get a piece of paper and something to write with?” The waitress cracked her gum and walked away. She came back a few seconds later with a child’s menu and some crayons. She dropped them on the table and walked away. Mama and I looked at each other and I giggled, Mama just shook her head. “There goes her tip. Anyway.” 

She wrote down comforter. “Ok what else?” 

I bit my lip a little and tapped the table with my knife. “Uhhh well my computer, iPod, cellphone.”

Mama raised an eyebrow. “Baby cakes, what if there is no internet where you are going?” 

I blinked my eyes. “Everywhere has internet. They may not have Wi-Fi, but they will certainly have DSL.” 

Mama rolled her eyes. “Other than electronics, what would you like to bring? How about Mr. Huggins?” 

I rolled my eyes back. “Please like I am going to take a ratty old bear with me.” Silence yawned between us for a minute before I muttered. “Put him on the list.” 

Mama wrote it down as our food arrived. The rest of lunch was spent eating and deciding what I really needed to take with me (such as clothes) as opposed to what I wanted to take (half my room).

Once we were done eating, Mama paid the check (sans tip) and we started the rest of the way home. The rest of the ride home was quiet, but I felt better. Mama was right, without change there was nothing, I was scared though. 

It was about 3:00 when we got home. It was way too early for bed, but I had never felt more exhausted. Mama looked tired too. When we pulled into the driveway, Mama turned off the car and looked at me. “You know what? Why don't you go upstairs and take a bath? A nice hot bubble bath and we will worry about everything tomorrow.” 

I bit her lip, that idea sounded so good but Taylor. Crap. “I can’t, I have to walk a box over to Taylor’s so she can get my stuff from school tomorrow.” 

Mama frowned a little. “Do you think that’s a good idea? 

I nodded my head. “It’s better this way, easier.” 

“Ok sweetheart, there are some boxes in the garage. Take your walk, I am going to call Elizabeth.” 

I nodded and got out of the car. I pushed the button to open the garage door and pulled out a small box. I gave Mama a kiss and started walking down the sidewalk. Taylor lived 2 blocks over from me, and I have lost count how many times I walked down this street to her house. 

I looked at the various houses as I walked. Old Mrs. Jenkins house. She always gave out the best candy at Halloween; she gave out full size candy bars, not fun size, full size. Mr. and Mrs. Allan’s house. Taylor and I once broke their window with a runaway ball. That was the summer I spent babysitting their twins for free. I wondered as I walked, if the new city would feel as familiar to me as this place did. Would it come to the point where I could walk down a street and be able to say I knew the people inside and out? I hoped so. 

I crossed the street at Abernathy Street and walked down Dussett Street. Taylor’s house was 4th on the left. I climbed up the wooden porch steps and knocked a few times. There were footsteps and then the door swung open to reveal Taylor’s mom. She smiled. “Amaia! Come in sweetheart.” She glanced at the box but said nothing. “Taylor is up in her room, you know where that is.” She moved aside so I could step in. I smiled at her and went up the stairs. When I got to the top of opened the door and was hit with the smell of incense. Soft flute music played as Taylor stood on her Yoga Mat in the Chair Pose position. Her slender wrist was in a black splint, there was a bruise near the top of her forehead and she had dark circles under her eyes, but other than that she looked the same. I moved around her still form and sat on the bed, setting the box next to me. She moved her body a little so she could face me. I smiled at her. 

“I have never been able to understand how managing to twist yourself into a pretzel is a good form of exercise.”

Taylor put both feet on the floor and used her uninjured hand to lift her leg in front of her. “Yoga is not really about exercise. It’s about the technique of controlling the body and the mind, as well as the expansion of consciousness.” 

“I am sure the toned abs don’t make you frown at all though.” 

She cracked an eye open and slitted it towards me. “If you are not going to be helpful with my path to omniscience, please be quiet.” 

I drew my finger across my lips, trying to fight back a laugh. Not because I thought this was stupid or weird, but because it was so Taylor. 

I waited until the music finally ended and she put both feet on the floor. She grabbed a towel from the floor and rubbed her face with it. “Whew, that is done for the day.” She looked over at me and then at the box. She sighed softly and sat down in her pink saucer chair. “I tried to tell myself that you were making a joke and when you got home, you were going to come over laughing. That box tells me you’re serious.” 

I nodded my head. “We are going. I leave in two weeks. Not sure when or what day, but that is the plan.” 

She nodded and swiveled around in her chair. “Well, I can’t say I agree with this or that I am in love with it, but you gotta go so.” She got up from the chair, walked over to me and hugged me. “Don’t lose touch ok?” 

I hugged her back. “I will text every day.” 

She smiled. “You better, or I will come out there and kick your butt.” 

I smiled and stood up. “I should let you take a shower.” She nodded and tapped the box. “I will drop this off tomorrow after school.” 

I nodded, gave her another hug. I went downstairs, Mrs. Stevens was sitting in the living room, I could the muted sound of the TV playing. I quietly went out the front door. I stepped down to the sidewalk, took one last look up at the house and started to run. 

I am not much of a runner, but when I get my momentum going, I can be pretty fast. I ran hard and fast down the two blocks. The sluggish heat, the last bit of summer had me gasping for breath when I got to my house. I went to the door and leaned on the doorbell until Mama opened the door. She gasped and yanked me into the house. “Amaia? What are you doing?” 

I couldn’t speak but I managed to pant out that I ran from Taylor’s. Her lips pressed into a thin line. “Are you trying to kill yourself?” 

I shook my head, staggered to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and sucked it down. Mama looked at me expectantly. “I was trying to get home before I ran to Taylor and told her everything.” 

Mama rolled her eyes. “So to keep the secret, you were trying to kill yourself?” 

I sighed and drank some more water. “No, I was just trying to get home.” 

Mama shook her head. “Well I called Elizabeth, she is happy we are home. She and Caroline are fine, but the cats seem to miss you.” I smiled at that one and Mama continued. 

“She is going to email some information about the school, probably tomorrow. While you were at Taylor’s, I went across the street to Safeway and got some boxes. They are all piled up in the garage. I will go get some more tomorrow.” 

I nodded and finished the water and popped it in the recycling. “So are we going to sell this house or what?” 

Mama shook her head. “Nope, I worked too damn hard to have this house. I was thinking of just letting it sit, but renting it out might be better in the long run. I know a few people that would treat the house nicely and pay rent.” 

I sighed but nodded, we were going to put stuff in storage anyway. It did wrench my heart a little, our sweet little kitchen where we have had so many meals. I sighed heavily and Mama wrapped her arms around me. “Why don’t you go take that bubble bath and head for bed?” 

I nodded, gave her a squeeze back and went upstairs. I went into the bathroom and filled up the tub with water. I added bubble bath, bath salts and bath beads. By the time I was done, the bubbles foamed up over the side of the tub and were tinted with different colors. I slid into the water and sighed softly. Mama was right, this was very relaxing. I soaked for an hour and half before the water turned cold enough to force me out. I drained the tub, put on my robe and went to my room. I changed into a pair of sleep pants, my Tennesee Titans shirt and then flopped onto my bed. 

What to do now? The logical side of my head said that I should try and sleep even though it was only 5:30 in the evening. But, it had been quite the few days and I am sure I would need all the sleep I could get. But the kid part of my brain said, ‘You're a teenager, why in the world would you want to listen to the logical side?’ I glanced over at my laptop sitting on my desk like a faithful old dog. A quick peek at Facebook never hurt anyone right? I could go right to bed after, it would only be for a few minutes. I jumped off the bed, sat down at my desk and turned on the laptop. 

Sometime later, I had moved to the bed and was laughing over some post that Taylor had made. I was just getting ready to comment when the door opened and Mama appeared. “Amaia, I thought you were going to bed.” 

I looked up at Mama in surprise, “I am. I was just checking Facebook really fast. I thought CSI was on tonight. You’re missing it.” 

Mama’s face split into a smile. “Honey, it’s almost midnight, I thought you went to bed ages ago.” 

“What?” I moved my eyes to the tiny clock on the right hand corner of the screen. “I swear, when I got out of the tub I was just going to look really fast.”

Mama smiled. “Facebook is evil like that, sucks you in and makes you lose all since of time.” 

I nodded my head. “And how.” I looked over at her. “Why are you up so late?” 

“I was just watching Fallon and I saw your light on, so I thought I would check on you.” 

I powered down the laptop and closed it. “Well good thing you did or it would have been dawn.” Mama came over and took the lap top from me. She set it on the desk and pulled down the comforter. “Come on, To bed, to bed said Sleepyhead.” 

I slid into the bed and laid back. “Wait a while said Slow.” 

She smiled and drew the comforter up and we said together. “Put on the pot, said Greedygut, we’ll eat a bite before we go.” She kissed my head, turned off the light and left the room. I might have been 15, but you’re never too old to be mothered. 

 

The next morning I stumbled downstairs at about ten, bleary eyed and trying to wake up. I probably would have slept until noon if I had not smelt breakfast. Mama was at the stove cooking, talking on the landline. Boxes were stacked up in the corner by the table. I walked over to the cupboard and took out the stuff to set the table. Mama looked up from her cooking. “Ok, Amaia is awake, so I will call you back. Yeah, ok. Alright. Ok. Bye.” Mama beeped the phone off and stirred the frying pan. “Sausage and Pancakes for breakfast. I have something for you too. 

I laid out the plates carefully. “What is it? A map that will show me the quest of the silver shoes?” 

Mama laughed. “No, it’s just something I want to give you. Let’s eat first.” 

She walked the pan over to the table and slid some pancakes onto my plate and then hers. She took the pan back to the stove and slid the plump sausages onto my plate. “Ok, eat up.” I dug into my breakfast as she walked back over and sat down. I scooped up some pancake and took a bite. “Hmm that’s good.” I poured some juice into a glass and took a sip, “Do you think I should keep going with classes, just do them online until I leave?” 

 

Mama frowned. “I don’t know baby. I mean, I think we should focus more on getting ready for you to go. Plus, you are going to go to school when you get to Trinity County. So I think it might be better to hold off. But, I am not going to stop you.” 

I nodded my head and took another bite. She had a point; but at the same time, I would like a little bit of normal for a little while longer. “What’s on the agenda for today?” 

Mama sighed. “You have to for sure start on your room. And we have to figure out what gets boxed up and what doesn’t. What needs to go into storage and all that stuff. You don’t want to take everything with you, because I will bring some. But you do need enough to make it through. But we will wait until I get an email from Elizabeth, but you can at least start packing.” 

“So am I running around naked for the next two weeks?” 

Mama smirked, “No smartass, but you do need to start packing up some clothes. Lord knows you have more than enough.” I nodded my head, a glittering catching my eye. “What is that?” 

She looked down and smiled. “Oh, it’s the ring Elizabeth gave me. I put it on a chain that granddaddy gave me. See?” She lifted it up so I could see the pretty ring dangling from the chain. “Now I can wear it and not worry about losing it.” I nodded my head, touching my own necklace gently. “I meant to ask you last night, what are you going to do about work?” 

Mama smiled. “I was just talking to Joan when you deemed it worthy to crawl from your hole. I am taking two weeks’ vacation until you get on your way. Then I am going to go back to work while I get the house settled.” 

I smiled. “Sounds like a good plan.” 

Mama nodded. “Well it’s a plan anyway.” She dug into her breakfast and I followed suit. 

 

The two weeks flew by. I spent the majority of my time packing stuff up. Boxes and trash bags littered my room, along with suitcases. We had gotten the information from Elizabeth about the school. I was going to be sharing a room with a girl named Mackenzie Jordan, my suitemates would be Paige Walters and Mari Palmer. I was allowed only three pieces of luggage, medium sized and a large box that would contain bedding, closed with heavy packing tape with my name and address printed on it. 

Mama also spent the two weeks packing which would not have been bad, if she had not attacked it with such a vengeance that made me think she was ready to put me on the street corner with the rest of the stuff for the moving van to pick up. The final straw came the day before I was supposed to leave. I went downstairs to get a bowl of cereal and there were no dishes in the cupboard. I could hear a rustling in the living room, so I yelled out. “Mama, where are the bowls?” There was no answer so I walked into the living room. “Mama?” She was bent over, head in a box grumbling to herself. “Mama!” 

She jumped a foot and turned to me. “Oh baby, you’re awake. Good, I need you to grab up that box over there and tape it up for me.” She pointed vaguely to the corner where several open boxes sat.

I blinked a little. “Mama the bowls-”

“Amaia, I have no time to argue, all I am asking you to do is tape up a box.” 

I growled and kicked one of the boxes at my feet. It made a loud thunk and pain immediately shot up my foot. “OW!” 

Mama turned to glare at me. “What in the world! All I asked you to do was tape up a box.” She yelled as I hopped around holding my foot. 

I glared at her still holding my foot. “And all I wanted to know is where the bowls were since they were not in the cupboard!” 

Mama blinked a little and then sat down on the floor. “I packed them.” She said softly.

I sat down too and rubbed my foot, wincing. “Mama um, I am not one to point out the obvious, but you seem to be getting a little out of control with your packing. I mean, yesterday, you packed the toilet paper.” 

Mama sighed. “I just wanted to have everything ready. But your right, this is getting out of hand. I mean, I was just trying to shove that bronze statue into a box.” 

I blinked, “That thing has to weigh at least 10 pounds, you were going to put into a box?” I started to laugh, and Mama joined me a minute later.

Our laughter was interrupted by the doorbell. I got up from the couch and walked to the door. I peeked out the peep hole to see a UPS man. I opened the door and smiled. “Yes?” He smiled at me. “Grace Abbott?” I shook my head and called out for Mama to come to the door. 

She walked over and handed me a bowl and a spoon. “Here you go do that, I got this.” I took the bowl and went to the kitchen to finally get my cereal. I sat down at the table as Mama walked in. “Elizabeth sent your train ticket, looks like you are taking the 10:40pm train to Chicago, then a five hour layover, take the 2:00pm to Sacramento, which will take you five days to get there. From Sacramento, you go to Redding.” 

I frowned a little. “Does it say how I am going to get to get to Trinity County from there? Flap my arms.” 

Mama rolled her eyes and looked over the letter. “It doesn’t say. But I am sure they have a plan.” Mama took the ticket and the itinerary into her purse and looked at the second paper. “Elizabeth sent instructions for us.” Mama read for a minute while I crunched my cereal. “Looks like she wants us to wait to go to the train station until about 8:00. She said with the flurry of activity going on, The Council want any Vampires to catch wind of baby Dhampirs gathering in one spot, so they have designated times for each group. Your group is Blue by the way. She says pack some clothes into your carryon since they will stow your luggage in the baggage hold.” Mama kept reading and then flipped to one last page. “Ah, here is your school stuff.” She handed the page to me and I looked it over. 

“Oh let’s see here, School clothing must be neat and clean, blah blah.” I muttered through the list until I got to the last part. “Uniform shall be-Uniform? I have to wear a uniform?” 

Mama took the paper and read it over. “Apparently you do. But not a real one. It looks like the school will be provide you with your choice of Khaki pants or skirts, sneakers and a polo shirt color of your grade level. So as a Sophmore, you will wear Blue.” 

“Ok, that doesn’t sound so bad.” 

Mama nodded. “Nope, it’s not. If you were younger than a Sophmore level, you would wear Purple, Juniors wear Black and Seniors wear red.” 

I smiled. “I guess this means I can toss some of my clothes that I was going to wear to school out.” 

Mama laughed. “I think you would need some of it for outside of school. But yes.” 

I finished eating my cereal and went upstairs to shift some stuff around. I was getting so nervous about the trip now. As I was shifting some stuff around, I found the backpack that Elizabeth gave me. I probably wasn’t supposed to use this until I got to school, but it would be handy to have on the train. I pulled it out of the box that had ‘Grace-Take’ written on it and then taped the box back up. I set the empty bag on my bed and started putting some clothes from my suitcase into the backpack. Once I had enough for a few days on the train (and there was plenty of room for other stuff); I went to my near empty desk and pulled out a pack of ribbons that had made their way into my desk. I pulled out a pretty blue one wrapped it around the top strap of my backpack and tied it in a bow. Now I would be easier to spot by my group. 

 

The next night, Mama and I drove to Downtown Memphis where the train station was located. It was a large white building with a brick tower on top. We parked the car and got out. We went to the back and grabbed up my backpack, suitcases and one box. Mama set them down on the ground by the trunk and closed it. “Run and go get a baggage cart from over there.” She pointed to the small baggage cart holder in the corner of the barking lot. I crunched across gravel and yanked one out. I walked back over to Mama and we loaded it up, I put my backpack on and we walked inside and up the Check in area. The lady looked at my ticket and smiled. “We will get this all loaded up the blue section.” She stamped my ticket and wished me good journey. 

Once we had the luggage checked in, we walked into the main lobby and sat down on a bench. As we sat, the large clock against the wall rang with the hour; it was 9:00 pm. I looked at Mama shifting my backpack. “Think it’s time yet?” Mama shook her head, “Let’s wait a bit.” I leaned against her and sighed softly. We watched the people walk by us, but it was pretty quiet. When the clock bonged 9:30, Mama shrugged a little. “Ok love, time for you to go up.” I sighed and stood up. “Are you going to walk with me?” 

Mama shook her head and hugged me. “Go upstairs and don't look back. Its bad luck for one thing, and for another, there is no reason to look back, always look forward.” We smiled at each other and turned for the stairs. 

I waded through the semi crowd at the stairs and when I got to the top, I looked around the second floor, there were some shops, a few eateries and a few doors. One was marked Private and pinned to the door was a small sign that read: Trinity County. I moved towards the door and very slowly opened it. 

I had expected chaos and crying, but it was really quiet. I figured it was the fact that most of the kids in the Purple Section, who were about 11-13 years old, appeared to be sleeping. Their adult chaperone was the only one awake, was reading and listening to music. I moved past the combined Red/Black Section, which had young adults in their midst, so they appeared to be busy with their electronic devices. 

I finally found the Blue Section, which was marked the fact that half the people sitting around the benches had some form of Blue on their person. I sat down on the closest bench and sighed softly. Well, I made it this far. A body plopped down next to me. I turned to greet the new person. She was short, in fact, looking around I realized we all were. Weird. She had a fairly round build, not really fat, mostly muscle. She had short dark hair the rubbed her chin. But her eyes were friendly and her smile was warm. 

“Hey. You Amy?” 

I smiled at the thick accent, clearly a little further south than we currently were. “It’s Amaia, but yes. And you are?”

“Mackenzie Jordan, but call me Mack. Nice to meet you.” 

Oh, this was my roommate, nice! “Nice to meet you too. Are we the only two so far?” 

Mack shook her head. “Nah, Paige went to go get some candy or something and Marty disappeared about 10 minutes ago, said she needed to do something.” 

Well so much for meeting the suitemates. “Have you been sitting here long?” Mack shook her head. “I drove up this morning; I don’t live too far from here.” 

I smiled, “Where do you, or did you live?” 

Mack leaned against the bench, stretching out her legs. “Tuscumbia, Alabama. Been there all my life.” 

“I was raised here in Tennessee; actually three generations of my family have lived here.” I curled my fingers against each other. “Have you always known you were a Dhampir?” 

Mack shook her head, “Nope, found out a few weeks ago, my folks were embarrassed, so they never told me. I finally got the phone call that I could legally take myself and decided to come. At least now I know why I am so good at gymnastics. That’s what I used to do. Freaked my coaches out when I could just go and go and not stop.” 

I laughed a little and was about to say something else when another girl walked up carrying a laptop against her body. She sat down on the other side of Mack and smiled at me. She had a tumble of dark curls flowing down her back, a lot like mine and large laughing eyes. 

“This must be Amelia.” 

Mack nodded. “Yup, Amelia, this is Paige Walters.” 

Paige nodded at me since her hands were full. “Pleased to meet you.”

I smiled back at her. “Nice to meet you too. But it’s Amaia, Uh-my-uh.” I flicked my eyes to her laptop, “What are you doing?” 

She shook her head and pressed her finger to her lips. I nodded and looked at Mack who shrugged. “She claims to be an expert hacker; but I have yet to see her in action.” 

Paige gave Mack a dirty look, “I told you already, I am not a show pony for your entertainment.” 

Mack held up her hands in surrender and then looked at me. “You hang out downstairs long?” 

I shook my head. “No, my Grandmother Elizabeth thought it would be better if I got here towards the last minute. So if-” I looked back the little ones sleeping and decided not to freak anyone out this late. “Anyone noticed the gathering, it wouldn’t look weird.” 

Paige nodded as if she understood. “I’ve been here since 4:00, my plane landed early so I was stuck without a ride for a while until the shuttle came.”

Mack frowned a little. “Why didn't you catch a taxi?” 

Paige shrugged. “Shuttle was easier to catch, and I managed to amuse myself.” 

Mack rolled her eyes and I smiled. “Paige, where are you from? I can’t quite trace your accent.” She had a weird mix of southern drawl, with a North Eastern dialect tinging it. 

Paige smiled and tapped some keys on her laptop. She paused for a minute to pull out an Orange and Blue cap. Once she had it firmly on her head, she looked at me. “I am from South Carolina. My Daddy is from Alabama, this is his Auburn cap.” She touched the rim gently. “Mama was from Boston, she met Daddy at Auburn U and it went from there.” 

She gasped softly as a girl our age moved towards the vending machines. It was one of the new ones, so it was completely computerized. 

Mack and I looked at each other and shrugged as Paige grinned and tapped faster on her keyboard. The girl put her money into the machine and keyed in the code, there was a loud set of thumps as her candy and five other types of candy fell from their slots into the bottom of the vending machine. The girl yelped and looked around, trying to figure out what to do. She finally just scooped the candy out of the machine. Mack and I turned our gaze to Paige who just grinned. “I take tips in twenties only.” 

I opened my mouth to say something, but the machine started spitting out more candy. Mack narrowed her eyes. “Isn’t that stealing?” 

Paige just shrugged. “Must be a faulty machine.” She grinned as other kids ran up to the machine. She shut off her laptop and then put it inside its case that was sitting at her feet. “Someone should look into that.” 

We sat in silence until the girl that had walked to the machine first came over and sat down next to me. Mack smiled. “This is Marty. Marty this is…Uh-My-Uh.” 

She smiled at Mack and then looked at me. “Actually is Mah-ree.” 

Mack snorted. “My bad for having issues with names, kill me why don’t you.” 

I smiled and shook my head. “It’s ok Mack, really.” I looked over at Mari and she offered me a piece of candy. “Weirdest thing in the world. I just wanted a Crunch Bar and all of this candy spit out at me.” 

Paige reached out. “I will take the Reese’s Pieces.” Mari handed them over and I took the Twix bar. Mack blew out a breath and took the Hershey bar. Paige grinned at us. “Wonder if anything else will happen like this on the way.” 

Mack bit into her candy bar. “If it does, I know a good lawyer.” 

Paige grinned. “I have never needed one before.” 

Mari looked at me and frowned. “What are they talking about?” 

I patted her hand gently. “Don’t worry about it.” 

She had such a confused look that I changed the subject of the candy. “Where are you from Mari?” 

She smiled and bit into her Candy. “I am from all over. I was adopted when I was a baby and my parents and I didn’t really get along. One day, we were living Wyoming and I couldn’t stay, so I lit out of there. I met a friend along the way and he told me about this school. I called them up to find out if I could come and they said sure and here I am.” 

It was quick and to the point, and just vague enough to make me raise my eyebrows a little. “Wow that is…wow.” 

She smiled. “Well why lie? That is what happened.” 

I smiled at her and took a bite of my candy. She was right, why lie? 

But I can tell you that after she told me that, the hair on the back of my neck was tingling.


	4. Chapter 4

We boarded the train an hour and a half later. It was very organized for almost 11:00 at night. They loaded the Purples first, since they were younger, they had a special part of the train they were going to put them at. Then they loaded our section, but as we got on, they took our electronics away from us. I thought Paige was going to sob as they took her laptop case away, marked it with her name and put it on the baggage cart. The attendant smiled. “You will get it back when we get to the Redding. Don’t worry, it won’t be long.” 

I had to hand over my iPod and cellphone. I hesitated with the phone. “What if my Mama tries to call?” 

The attendant repeated what she told Paige and I moved forward. Well this trip was off to a smashing start. 

Once we made our way onto the train, there was a woman in front of us; she looked just like us, maybe a little taller, but not by much. Her name tag declared that she was Darby. When we got in front of her she smiled. “Blue Section? This way.” She walked up down the hall to a large sleeper suite. It had the main room and then an attached room that had the seats turned into bunk beds. “Mack and Amaia are in one room, Mari and Paige in the other. “I would suggest bedding down girls; it’s going to be a long trip.” She left us where we stood and ran back down the hall. I set my backpack on the small seat that sat right next to the window. 

Before I could say that I wasn’t really tired, Mack said she was going to the dining car, Mari said she had to try and find a phone and Paige just flopped onto one of the bunk beds in the attached room moaning about her computer. 

I sighed softly, moved my backpack and sat down in the seat. There was nothing to see, as it was pitch black outside, but it was nice to sit down in a comfy spot. I reclined the seat back and watched the kids running back and forth in the hallway, probably burning off some energy before the train left and everyone had to sit still, or at least curb their movement. I covered my mouth as I yawned. I was tired. But I wanted to wait for the others to come back before going to bed. Might as well flip through some of Elizabeth’s journals to kill time. 

New York City, 1930   
Elizabeth Abbott walked out into the empty street, her high heels striking against the wet payment with soft click clack noises and the wind making the trees dance over her head. She really should have caught a cab, with the rain having been coming down earlier and threatening to do so again, but she had been in a hurry and not thinking. It was odd to think, that she had been in such a hurry to leave a birthday party, a joyous occasion for anyone. And! It had been for her friend Lydia, who was another Dhampir. Elizabeth had known Lydia for many years, she was a very sweet girl and a true friend, Elizabeth knew none better. But Lydia was very much into opulence and extravagance, like many of the Dhampirs she had met. Which is why that even in the middle of a Depression AND Prohibition, Lydia had held her birthday party at the Russian Tea Room, where wine, song and laugher had flowed over everything.   
Elizabeth had tried to enjoy herself, but after only an hour and a half she was ready to leave the suffocating atmosphere for her quiet room at the Plaza. Lydia had of course begged her to stay; dance with a few more people, and show off her pretty blue dress. But Elizabeth had declined. She needed to get home; she had many things to attend to. A lie, but a sweet one. Just something to soothe Lydia’s suspicions, no she was not leaving because she was disgusted, of course she would love to stay until dawn, and no, she had not drunk too much wine to see herself home. Most of it lies, but, just harmless ones. Because the truth was, Dhampirs in Elizabeth’s opinion were taking a downward slide to being almost as bad as Vampires themselves. Opulence and extravagance was starting to rein supreme in the hearts of Dhampirs.   
Elizabeth though, was pleased to count herself among the small group of Dhampirs that didn't so much scorn those particular ideals, but didn't heartily embrace it. They devoted themselves to what the Originals had intended, keeping themselves safe. Keeping the line of Dhampirs strong. Preserving the whole for the generations to come. Even if it meant sacrificing the small parts to take care of the whole.   
Though she could understand why the other side of the group had lost their fighting spirit so to speak. When you had the opportunity to live forever, why not live it up? But living it up would eventually have consequences. Because Elizabeth knew that one day, they would get so complicit to living it up, that they would forget to keep looking over their shoulders. You always had to be on your guard, as the Originals taught. If you weren't, it would take nothing for something just sneak up behind you and-

Elizabeth let out a shriek and whipped around to look behind her. She was sure that someone had been right behind her, almost close enough to touch her, but the street was empty. She took a breath and looked around. So lost in her thoughts (stupid!) she had went in the wrong direction. Instead of walking to 6th Street so she could go up and get onto West 58th Street to the Plaza, she had managed to turn herself around. She blew out a breath and thought of hailing a taxi when she felt the tingle of someone watching her, following her, just as she had a few seconds before. Moving into her stealth mode, she slid into an alley next to an apartment house and very slowly pulled out her small handgun (loaded with Palladium bullets) from her handbag. She pulled the small hammer back and peered out from the alley onto the quiet street she had just left.   
“I know you're out there. Don't think you are going to get the drop on me!”   
The silence that followed made Elizabeth started to feel very foolish. Nothing out there, whether human or otherwise, would be able to deflect a challenge from a small woman. Letting out a breath of tension, she released the hammer and dropped the small gun back into her handbag. Silly, no one was there. But just to be safe, instead of getting a cab, she decided to cut through the alley she was standing in which would take her right up to 58th Street, and from there it was just a hop, skip and a jump to her room at the Plaza. And with the tenement apartments on either side of the alley, it would be very safe.  
She turned to head down the alley when the nightmare appeared. The figure was a simple one, a tall man, with a long coat whipping in the wind, a small bowler hat perched over his head to protect it from the rain. Elizabeth swallowed a little and took a step back.  
She would have to go the long way around, go down 57th Street instead of cutting across. She stepped out of the alleyway and began to walk, but it was different now, all of her senses to tense and ready to strike out.   
She was halfway to 6th Avenue, with the El running over the top of her when her sharp ears picked up the sound of footsteps. She clutched her coat tighter around her frame and started to walk faster. As she did, the footsteps behind her started to pick up speed. This guy was playing a very good game of cat and mouse, but she was better.   
When she came to the intersection of 6th Street she was in a full run and didn't even slow down for the oncoming cars. The rain soaked road made her feet slide like ice and the car that was coming towards her was doing no better. She was going to get killed trying to escape from something that wanted to kill; the irony was not lost on her. The car was bearing down and suddenly she was airborne. Then she was on the ground. The grass on the other side of the intersection was not as soft as it looked. She groaned softly and rolled over; the man that had met in the alley was there, staring at her with dark intense eyes.  
“Are you-”   
Elizabeth didn't let him finish the sentence; she kicked out her high heeled foot and connected with his face. When he grabbed his face, she tried to scramble to her feet and start running again. But with the wet grass, her feet could gain no traction. He reached for her again and she kicked out her foot again. He let out a groan and uttered an oath that no man should utter in front of a lady. She kicked him again and then used her hands to claw at the grass to get to her feet. He grabbed her coat and she pushed her arms out of the sleeves.   
He can keep the coat, she thought and the shoes too. She barely paused to take them off and throw them at her still pursuing villain as she ran for her life down 57th Street. She was about half way up the street when she ducked into an alley. If she made it through the alley, she would get to the space behind the Plaza and go in through the kitchen up to her room. She was in a dead run, when he leaped down from the roof above and fell in front of her, she ran right into him. As they both hit the ground, she yelped and tried to free herself. He grabbed her and pushed her against the brick wall, making her ears ring.   
She growled and shoved him but he pushed her back. “Elizabeth! Stop it!”   
She went still and glared at him. “How do you know my name?”   
He gave her a sneer and shoved her against the wall and then took a step back. “Well if you had talked to me instead of kicking me in the face, I would have been happy to properly introduce myself. But since you were so rude, I will save the introductions for another time. I was sent here to protect you.”   
Of course Elizabeth bristled. “I do not need to be protected. I am a Dhampir trained from the teachings-“   
The Vampire waved his hand. “I know, I know. You are a trained Dhampir, but I was sent here to be your guardian and I will do so.”   
She frowned, “What, why?” 

He shrugged. “I was told by my Sire to come here and guard you and that is what I am going to do. Now I can sit outside your window every night like some creepy gargoyle or maybe you can let me in to sit next to the fire with a meager cup of gruel.”   
Elizabeth fluttered her eyes. “You eat gruel?”   
The Vampire groaned and closed his eyes and muttered some Romanian under his breath. She was not fluent in Romanian but she understood the words ‘femeie prost’.   
“Hey!” She cried indignant. “I am not a stupid woman!”   
He opened his dark eyes and shot her a look. “I am about five seconds from calling you a lot worse, so can we please just shake on it and get on with it?”   
She shot him a glare and started stomping towards the end of the alley to get to the Plaza. He moved behind her.   
“So what do I call you when I serve your gruel?”   
He smirked as she opened the door to the kitchen which would let them take the back way upstairs. “Anthony, my name is Anthony.” 

I let out a gasp when a hand touched her shoulder. I whipped my head around to look at the person that was touching me. I sucked in a breath when I saw Paige. “You scared the shit out of me!” 

I had been so into Elizabeth’s Journal that I hadn’t even noticed anyone had walked into the room. 

Paige laughed and crunched down on her a handful of Reese’s Pieces loudly. “Well I'm sorry, but I've been standing in the doorway calling your name for the last 3 minutes. All you did was make faces at that book you are reading. I was starting to think you were having a stroke.” She tilted the bag towards me, offering some candy.

I laughed and took a few pieces. “No I-I wasn’t having a stroke. My Great Grandmother sent her journals with me. It’s supposed to help me understand the family history, I guess? She wrote some pretty interesting things and I just got lost in them.” 

Paige sighed softly and sat down on the bunk bed. “I did that with my laptop.” She shook her head and sighed. “Do you think the others are coming back any time soon I am tired.” 

I shrugged my shoulders. “I have no idea, but I am tired too. Why don’t we just crash in your room and when they come back, they can sleep in here. Then we don’t have to worry about leaving the lights on for anyone.” 

Paige smiled. “Sounds good to me.” 

I put the notebook back into the backpack and walked it into the room with me. I took my jammies out of the bag and went to use the small bathroom first. When I came out, I jumped a foot when a shadow moved in front of the doorway and disappeared. 

I went back into the adjoining room where Paige was already changed into her jammies and was hoisting herself up on the top bunk. She looked down at me when I walked in and frowned. “You ok?” 

I shook my head. “I think I just saw that Vampire that was in the waiting room.” 

 

Aiden was many things in this world. Top of the list was a vampire. Playboy fell in there somewhere. Handsome, smart and even a little egotistical. They all fell on the list in some degree. But babysitter never even made the list. Yet, here his Sire was sitting at his large mahogany desk telling Aiden that he was going to be looking out for a teenage Dhampir that was heading for Island. 

“So you're telling me that I'm going to be babysitter to a Dhampir? A teenage girl at that.” 

His Sire chuckled and started writing on a piece of paper. “Babysitter is not really the right term here. Think of yourself as her friend, pal, bestie.” 

Aiden raised an eyebrow. “Bestie?” 

“Well maybe that is too much. My point is this Aiden. Yes, you are going to be traveling with her, keeping an eye on her. Elizabeth asked me specifically and I agreed. And I could think of no one better than my favorite Childe.” 

Aiden snorted. “Odd you think of me as your favorite, only when you need a favor of the worst kind.”

His Sire lifted his unflinching hunter green eyes into Aiden’s cobalt green eyes. “I am giving you this job because it requires something of a stealthy approach. Amaia doesn't need to know you are protecting her, nor do we need to call any needless attention to the fact that we are taking care of a young Dhampir. Eyebrows will be raised, questions will be asked and then we will have some explaining to do, while also drawing some very unwanted attention to ourselves. I don't know about you, but I am quite fond of the little life I am leading here.” 

Anthony pressed his fingers together in a steeple. “So yes, my favorite Childe, you are going to go to the Island with Amaia and yes, you will watch her every move, you will keep track of her comings, goings and friends. So help me God, you will follow her into the bathroom if I deem it important enough. Because my word is my bond, and now by default, it is your bond as well. Now, get ready to travel. You are leaving on 10:40 train from Memphis next week.” His Sire shoved a train ticket across the desk to him then went back to his papers discussion was over. 

Aiden stood as he lifted the ticket into his hand. He turned to go to the door and paused, with his hand on the knob. “Anthony?” 

There soft puff of a sigh. “Yes Aiden?” 

He bit his lip and stared at the door. “Is she in trouble?” 

“No, not yet and that is why you are going, to make sure nothing does trouble her.”

“What makes her so special anyway? That you would worry for trouble.” 

“Right now, I have my reasons and suspicions, but nothing solid to go on. So let’s end this conversation by saying: I am doing her Great Grandmother a favor and move on from there.” 

Aiden nodded his head and left the room. 

When he got to his room to start packing, there was anger as he put clothes into the suitcases that Anthony had sent up to his room. Four of them which told Aiden he was going to be gone a long time, possibly longer than either of them anticipated. This was more serious than what Anthony was letting on. He knew something, or suspected something so bad that he felt the need for Aiden to be with Amaia for as long as possible. Terrific. As he started putting personal effects into his bag, his cell phone chirped in his pocket. He pulled it out of his pocket and there was a text message from Anthony. He growled as he read it. 

“Cover Story: You are helping Baran and Sam Cole teach the Dhampirs training and defense techniques.”

It took everything in Aiden not to crush the phone between his fingers. He was going to be training teenagers? This was beyond ridiculous, it was humiliating! He was a Vampire not a Nanny! He grumbled under his breath and slammed his hand into the wall.

On the night of his departure, Anthony and Aiden drove from Clarksville all the way down to Memphis. Anthony had already spoken to Elizabeth and Amaia was heading for the train station as well. Aiden was mostly silent on the drive down to Memphis. He had been raised in Clarksville, somewhat. He had lived in Philadelphia when Anthony had turned him then he had been with the other Children to Clarksville. It was obscure, quiet and kept them off of the radar. With all those qualities, Anthony was able to raise the Children to be better than what other vampires were. He was raising guardians he said. Aiden had always loved Anthony for that, because in his eyes Anthony had not created a monster, but a savior. So maybe Aiden going to California was a good thing, a chance to show Anthony he raised Aiden to exceed his expectations. 

When they arrived in Memphis, he felt like he had arrived in New York or something. Yes, he had lived in Philly, but that was in the 1950’s, when the world was much different. Clarksville was not exactly the hub of the social scene, so to him, Memphis was big and sparkling. As they turned down South Main Street, Aiden stared at the trolley that clanged past them, the lights from the bars and music halls. He made a mental note to come back when he had a chance and check everything out. 

Anthony pulled in front of a large white building and put the car in park. “Well this is your stop, you still have an hour so if you want to go over to the Arcade Restaurant over there, they usually close at 3:00, but they stayed open late tonight. The Council asked them to.” Aiden shook his head. 

“I think I should just get in there, might be busy.” 

Anthony nodded his head and got out to help Aiden gather his bags. Once they got inside, the information booth pointed them to the door that would lead Aiden out to his train when it arrived. He went and checked his baggage and then turned to Anthony. “Well I guess I'm heading west.” 

Anthony laughed and drew Aiden in for a bear hug. “I promised myself to be manly over this, that you were an adult and didn't need your Sire cuddling you. But dammit, you're my Childe and I love you.” 

Aiden smiled and hugged Anthony back just as hard. “I love you too. I will make you proud I promise.” 

Anthony slid his fingers under Aiden’s ears and rubbed the skin gently. “You make me proud already. Hence why you are the favorite. Now go catch the damn train before I embarrass both of us.”

Aiden gave his Sire one last look and moved towards the stairs that would take him to the waiting room for the train. He took the stairs a little quicker than normal humans would but doubted anyone would really notice. At this time of the night, the place was pretty much deserted, except for the standard sleepy eyed late night travelers and of course the Dhampirs that were leaving in the dead of night. The top of the stairs was busier than downstairs, simply because this is where the waiting rooms for the different trains were. He turned to the left on the other side of the muffin kiosk, closed for the night and went towards a door marked Private. He pushed it open slowly and walked in trying not to be noticed. 

There were not as many children as he originally thought there was going to be, maybe about 20 of them, if that. Not all were teenagers either, some were younger kids holding the hand of an older sibling or friend. It was not chaotic as he had seen in the past, it was very quiet. He attributed that fact to being almost 11:00 at night but also, fear had a way of making a person subdued. He shifted his carry-on bag against his shoulder, his eyes scanning for Amaia, he was not going to approach her, but he had to be able to see her. 

After a few subtle turns of his head, his eyes finally rested on a small figure that was curled up on a chair next to the window. She had long dark hair that was about the color dark chocolate and curled down her back. She was in an animated conversation with someone in front of her, a girl with light brown hair and holding a bag of candy in her hand. The girl with the candy moved her dark brown eyes for a split second to Aiden and then went back to the girl. He didn't need his super sensitive hearing to know that the girl was giving the other the lowdown on the vampire that just walked into the room. The girl he assumed to be Amaia turned her eyes to him. When he looked into her eyes, he almost fell back in shock. Her eyes were the color of emeralds. Dhampirs did not have green eyes; Dhampirs always, always had dark eyes. She turned away from him, going back to her conversation. He frowned at her and moved to sit down in a chair near the group of girls but not close enough to draw attention to himself. Once he was seated, he pulled out his phone and sent a text to Anthony. 

“Y r her eyes green??”

The text that came in reply made him growl under his breath. “Tend to ur business and I will tend to mine.”

He punched the buttons on the phone so hard that they chirped in protest. “What does that even mean?” 

The reply he got was to the point and essentially ended the conversation. “You have your orders; I have told you what you need to do. Question me no more. The less you know the better.” 

With a snap of impatience, Aiden hit the button on the phone to turn it off. His Sire was hiding something from him, he was babysitting a Dhampir that had green eyes and he was going to be helping train a bunch of teenagers. How did his life come to this?

 

The next morning was pretty hectic. I have never in my life tried to get ready for the day while in a moving vehicle; let alone shared the bathroom and space with 3 other girls. I didn’t realize how long females take to get ready, especially ones that insisted on doing their hair like they were going out to a Red Carpet Event. It was made worse by the fact that during the night, a note had been pinned to the door telling us instead of getting breakfast right away, we were supposed to go to the lounge for a Meet and Greet. 

My frustration level really started to rise when Mari and Paige started to fuss at each other about who was going to wear what. Mack got into the mix by telling them that we were all supposed to wear blue. I stood up fast and said I was heading to the lounge. I stepped out of the room and almost collided with the Vampire that I had seen the night before. He smirked at me and put his hands on my shoulders to keep me from falling. 

“Whoa, be careful. You should really look before you leap.” 

I rolled my eyes and tried to fight the blush creeping up my cheeks. “I would if you were not hovering in shadows.” 

He smirked at me. “I don’t hover in shadows, you just have an issue with watching where you are going.” 

I started to reply but he just winked at me and disappeared. 

I let out a huff and stomped towards the lounge which was at the end of the train. The long wide hall was filled with sliding doors that led into the different bedroom suites. The gray carpet trailed against the white walls. The lounge was at the end of the all on the right hand side. When I walked in, I gasped. The room was huge, strewn around with couches and coffee tables. There was a few chairs and even some books in baskets around the room, along with some board games. There was also a small snack bar set up on the far end of the room. 

There were huge windows that flared along the roof and side of the train so all you could see was sky, it made a person feel like they were flying. I was reveling in the excitement of it all when I heard a voice say. “Long way from Kansas huh?” 

I turned and saw the Vampire behind me. I sighed loudly. “What do you want now?”

He quirked an eyebrow. “Um, for you to move, so I can walk in.” I stared at him for a minute confused, and he waved his hand. “You happen to be blocking the doorway.” 

I blinked and moved to the side so he could walk by. I went to sit on a couch and he followed me. When I sat down I sighed, “You could sit somewhere else. I was saving this spot for my roomies.” 

He rolls his eyes a little. “Don’t worry I am not going to be sitting here long. I am just saying hello.” 

I rolled my eyes. “Why are you even in here? The light should be burning you right now.” 

He shrugged, in almost off hand manner. “Because I’m a Vampire?” 

I frowned. “Yes, Vampires hate sunlight which is why they only come out at night.” I said smugly.

He chuckled a little. “Well good to know I am sitting with a Vampire Lore Expert. Please, enlighten me about myself more.” 

I had a feeling he was making fun of me, but I pressed on. “Well from what I know, Vampires can’t go out in the sun, it burns them to ash, so they sleep in a coffin during the day; uh, can’t eat garlic; crucifixes will hurt them and a wooden stake to the heart will kill them.” 

I felt quite proud of my list and expected him to be impressed at my knowledge, but all the boy did was laugh. It was a deep belly laugh too, complete with snorting. “What?” I demanded. “Why are you laughing?” 

He sucked in a breath and rubbed his face. “The fact that you could not be more wrong if you tried hard. Man, you seriously bought into the myths and legends surrounding Vampires didn’t you?” 

Ok that was rude. I was about to tell him off when I saw the others walk in. I put on my nicest smile. “Well this has been a barrel of laughs, but my friends just walked in sooo.” 

He shrugged and stood. “I am sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh. It just shocked me, you are a Dhampir and that is what you know about Vampires? 

“I have only known that I am Dhampir for a couple of days, so you will have to forgive me if I am not as on par as I should be.” 

Aiden snorted. “Please, you’re a generational Dhampir. Abbott is a very well-known name amongst the community, you can’t tell me that you didn’t know.” 

The silence that slid across the two of us made the moment turn awkward in just a few seconds. He looked at me in confusion. “You really didn’t know?” 

I glared at him. “I told you I didn’t and I never lie about things like that. Trust me, it was a shock that I am something other than what I always thought I was. Now if you will excuse me, you are blocking my friends.” 

He nodded and went over to the front of the room, stealing glances at me as he walked. 

Mack sat down next to me and smiled. “He was cute.” 

I rolled my eyes. “He is not cute, he is annoying and a pain in the ass. AND a stalker!” 

Mack shook her head. “Ok Amaia.” Paige and Mari sat down behind us and Mari leaned forward. “What is going on?” 

Mack shook her head. “Amaia has a crush.” 

I was about to deny it, when the woman from the night before came into the lounge. She moved to the front of the room and pressed a button. The shades came down over the windows, blocking the sun from the room. 

She then turned to the group and smiled. “My name is Darby Pine, I am what you could call the Welcome Wagon for the Island. Most of you met me last night briefly and I am here to, essentially get you ready for the town and school.” She cleared her throat and looked down at her clipboard. “I know that this is a confusing and probably trying time; some knew you were Dhampirs, some didn’t. I want you all to know that I am here if you have any questions or concerns. The Councils wants this transition to Island to be as smooth as possible. So please let me know anyway that can be done for you.” 

She looked down at her clipboard and then back up at us. “After breakfast is over, you will go back to your rooms and there will be a packet for everyone, the packet will be considered an entry exam. The Council just wants to see where you stand in the typical high school curriculum so we can put you in the correct classes. Once you are done, bring the tests back here to the lounge. Once I get all the tests back, I will input your information and be able to provide you with a class itinerary.”

One girl raised her hand, “So we will keep up with our normal studies?” 

Darby nodded her head. “Of course, you are still high school students. You need to be prepared for the world.” 

A boy raised his hand, “So would you be interested in our fighting or weaponry knowledge?” 

Darby shook her head. “That won’t be necessary. When you arrive, it won’t matter who knew what, everyone will be starting at the bottom and working their way up.” 

She looked around the room to see if there were any other questions, and then continued, “The girls, or guys, you are currently rooming with are going to be your roommates when we arrive at the Island. Try to stay with your designated group as much as possible, even during mealtimes and recreation time. We want to make sure that everyone will get along and if any changes need to be made, they can be made as soon as possible. Which also brings me to the Electronics being taken away. I know some of you were upset, but The Council is adamant that you bond. The people you are with are essentially going to be your family. Dhampirs make very strong ties and we want to nurture those as early as possible. I know it was hard for some of you to give them up. But this will help you. We know what is best.” 

She took a step back. “And since I have brought up family, I would like to introduce someone that is traveling with us, he is going to help instruct the Higher Level Defense Class with the Cole’s. Aiden Thomas.” People gasped and started to mutter amongst themselves when the The Vampire, excuse me, Aiden moved to the front of the room. His pale skin stood out in contrast to the Dhampirs own tanner skin. He did have the dark hair of a Dhampir, but his eyes were just like mine. A deep emerald green. 

Well that was creepy. 

Darby smiled and stood next to Aiden, almost in a protective stance. “In case some of you couldn’t tell, Aiden is a Vampire. He will be part of the small group that we have living in the city. Most Vampires are our enemies, but a select few are counted among our allies. I expect everyone to treat Aiden as you would treat any of the Dhampirs that are amongst you.” The tone of her voice left and thin line of her mouth little room for argument. 

She smiled again and looked around. “I believe that is it. Please let me know if you have any questions, off to breakfast now.”

I sat on the couch for a few minutes, waiting for the crowd to disperse a little bit. Mack sat next to me not saying anything. Once there was room to stand, Mack and I stood up, followed by Paige and Mari. The dining car was on the other side of the train and just as lovely as the lounge. There were tables bolted to the floor so they didn’t sway. A long table had been set up, it was covered with silver serving trays that were covered. The tables had color coordinating table clothes draped over them elegantly. Mack moved towards one of the table that had four place settings and sat down. There was a large pitcher of juice, chocolate milk and small kettle sitting on the hot pad. Mack lifted the lid of the kettle and smiled. “Coffee.” She lifted up her tiny china cup off the large plate and poured some coffee. Paige took the kettle from her and poured some as well. I poured some juice and Mari poured herself some Chocolate milk. 

An Amtrak employee walked over and smiled. “Hello my name is Dawn. What can I get you this morning?” She ran down the list of items we could eat and we all chose. I got a waffle plate, Mack got the Pancake Plate as did Paige. Mari got the eggs plate. She brought it over a few minutes later. Once we had our plates, she set down some toast with butter and jelly. She smiled, told us to enjoy and left. 

I sighed softly and shook my head. “She was quite cheerful.” Mack nodded. “Like she took a double shot of expresso.” 

I smiled a little, but it didn’t hold. I was worried that Mama was trying to call my phone right this minute. I stabbed my sausage, making a clanging noise against the plate. Mack looked up at me with raised eyebrow, “What’s wrong?” 

“I just hate that they took my phone away, I mean I have never been away from home and my Mama could be calling.” 

Mari nodded and poked her eggs with her fork. “They should have let us keep it, it’s our stuff. And sometimes, that is all a person has.” 

I could see her point, Mari knew better than most what it was to have just enough. Paige blew out a breath and peeled the crispy part of the bacon off and set it aside. “I know what you mean, I have always had a computer with me in some form, and I feel like I am lost.” 

Mack grabbed a piece of toast from the basket in the middle of the table. “Well, we should go get the stuff back. It belongs to you guys, they can’t just take it away from you.”

Paige bit her lip. “They said they wanted us to hang out together and bond, hence the no electronics thing.” 

Mack shrugged. “This is hanging out together. You can have your computer, Amaia can have her phone, nothing saying you can’t. And we will still be able to bond or whatever.” 

I smirked a little. “I don’t think they meant we should employ breaking and entering to our bonding and quality time.” 

Mack smirked back. “The baby scared?” 

That made me mad, especially since she was employing that ‘I am older and know more’ tone of voice. “No, I am not scared, I am in. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” 

Mari nodded and bit down into her eggs. “I am so on board with this. I know where they put the stuff too. It’s down in lower car, in the second room on the left hand side.” 

Paige frowned a little. “How in the world did you know that?” 

Mari shrugged and grabbed some toast. “Being nosy.” 

Mack smiled and bit into her pancakes. “Let’s stick with a routine. Finish breakfast, do that test, then we can sneak down to the lower car and get the stuff.” 

We all agreed and hurried to finish breakfast. Once we were done, we went back to our room and started on our tests. 

Mack sat down on the main seat of the room, I sat down in the reclining chair again. Mari and Page went into the adjoining room. Mack lifted up the table that was embedded into the wall and we started on the test. I was happy to see that it was a simple: ‘a lot, somewhat, not a lot, or not at all’ test. It was way easier and faster to just answer the questions instead of trying to rack my brain to figure out a math problem or reading comprehension. 

Once I finished, I left the room and walked down to the lounge. My mind was on other things so I jumped a little when someone fell into step next to me. I glanced up and rolled my eyes a little at the familiar figure. 

“Did you have to take the test too?” 

“Nope, I am exempt since I happen to be working for the Island.” 

“I see. So why are you stalking me?” 

Aiden chuckled a little. “Who says I am? It could be said, you are stalking me. You seem to appear where I happen to be.”

I rolled my eyes as we walked into the lounge. I handed my paper to Darby and then went to the couch and sat down, Aiden plopped down next to me. “I find it funny that you say that, but it seems like every time I turn around, there you are.” 

Aiden shrugged, “I think you are just being paranoid.” 

I narrowed my eyes. “And I think you have something up your sleeve.” 

Aiden lifted his hands in almost surrender. “I have nothing up my sleeve, I can show you if you want.” 

As he slid his hands under his shirt, ready to pull it up, I felt the blood rush up my cheeks. “No, no. I believe you. It’s ok.” 

He gave me an easy smile and looked over my shoulder. “Looks like your friends are here.” I turned and saw Mack, Mari and Paige coming into the lounge. “Well I gotta scoot. Take care.” I moved away from him and went into the hall to wait for the girls. I also told myself that I didn’t care what Aiden had up his sleeve or otherwise. 

When the girls came back out, we casually walked to the door at the end of the hall that was marked ‘Stairs’ with an arrow pointing down. Mack opened the door and peered down into the dim area. She glanced at the map posted next to the stairs and said. “Ok, so the luggage hold is right across from the stairs. From what Mari said, the electronic stuff should be here in this room.” She stabbed her finger against the map. “Which is right next door to the staff lounge and across from the staff sleeping quarters.” 

I bit my lip a little. “So there is almost a 75% chance where they could be potentially caught and booted off the train.” Boy that would be great to tell Mama; the motley crew and I had gotten the boot for trying to steal someone’s computer. 

“I think we are going to need bail money.” I muttered. 

Mack snorted. “If we were going to be stealing someone else’s stuff, we would need bail money. This is personal property that rightfully belongs to you and Paige.” 

Paige huffed out a breath. “You guys, let’s just do this. The longer we stand here, the more likely we are going to get caught.” With that said, Paige took the first step leading down the stairs. Mack followed her, with Mari and I following behind them. Once we got to the bottom of the stairs, Mack moved in front of Paige. “Let me lead ok?” 

Without waiting for approval, she moved behind the stairs, pressing her body against the wall. The three of us followed suite and she sighed. “Ok, there is the luggage hold there.” She pointed to the door right in front of us that was clearly labeled. She stepped into the hall and started walking towards the slightly ajar door at the end of the hall, just off the kitchen. We slid past the crew lounge with no issue and Mack pushed the door opened and stepped in, we followed right behind her. Inside were boxes that had been marked with a line of color. All the boxes were grouped together in separate sections and tied off with rope. The Laptop cases that hung from the hooks on both sides of the walls had a color sticker on them. Mari shut the door behind us and the motion sensor light flickered on. Mack turned to us and said in a hushed voice. “We need someone to listen at the door, see if anyone is coming. Any volunteers?”

Mari raised her hand. “I will.” 

Mack nodded. “Ok if you hear anything wave your arms, don’t make any noise. 

Mari nodded and pressed herself against the door as we moved over to a pile with blue marks. I peered into one boxes and started sifting through the wrapped and labeled things.

Paige searched in a box next to me and clicked her tongue. “Elves or something must be working for Amtrak. I mean these packages are wrapped and sorted, we only got on the train last night.” 

Mack shrugged from her box. “Well look at it logically, they must ship kids every year to the school, so it’s not like it’s a new system that is being created. They know they have to take our electronic things, so I am sure they have a group of people ready and waiting.”

Paige nodded and kept digging. I pushed aside a wrapped packet and pulled out a wrapped package that said Abbott on it. I tore it opened and saw my cellphone and iPod. I held out the torn open package. “I found mine!” I said in an excited whisper. 

Mack smiled. “Good, ok let’s look for the Hacker’s laptop.” I moved to the wall on the right hand side and started sorting through the laptop cases while Mari continued her vigil against the door. 

Mack went to the other wall to look, and Paige went to the back wall by the large window. After a few minutes search, Paige gasped and said. “Hello darling.”

Mack smiled. “Ok let’s get-”

The train suddenly started swaying violently under our feet. I held tight to the laptops in front of me while Paige held onto the wall next to the window. Mack clung to the laptops next to her and Mari, unfortunately, lost her balance and fell backwards into a stack of boxes. The boxes fell to the ground with a large crash. We all froze and stared at the boxes scattered. Mari stood up and stumbled next to me. “I am sure no one heard that.” 

I was about to say something, when a voice spoke. “I heard something fall down in the storage room, I am going to check it out.” There was a pause and the voice swore. “Hey Mel! You got keys for this thing?”

The door handle jiggled and we froze. 

Mack thankfully, recovered faster than the rest of us. She wobbled across the room and shoved Mari towards the door, hissing “Run!” 

She grabbed my arm and yanked me over to where Paige stood. I watched as Mari opened the door and started to run. There was a shout of voices as they chased her. 

Once the door closed again from the swaying, Mack went to the window and started to yank on it. Paige stared at her with a bug eyed expression. “Dear God, you are not going to suggest we jump are you?” 

Mack shook her head. “There is a ladder outside of the window, we are going to climb up to the second section of the train and get in through the door that is up there.” She finally got the window open, causing a huge rush of air to dance over us. 

The scenery rushed by us showing the speed of the train. And the reason for the sudden swaying was made clear by the fact that the train was going over a canyon. I was about to say that I would take my chances with security, given the fact that I am afraid of heights when over the roar of wind I could hear a loud pounding on the door. I pressed my lips together and nodded. “Well it is a lovely day for a climb.” 

Mack smirked, grabbed Paige and pushed her towards the window. “Paige, you need to go first because I need the squirt here to be in the middle.” Paige gulped, shifted the bag so it rested on her hip, and swung her leg over the edge of the window. She looked down for a second and then lifted her other leg over. She held onto the window seal for a minute, then reached out with one hand and grabbed the ladder next to the window. Once she was moving up the ladder, Mack looked at me. 

“Alright shorty, your next.” 

I tucked my cellphone into my pocket and mimicked Paige’s movements. I did pause on the window seal and looked at Mack. “Is it a bad time to mention I am pretty scared of heights?” 

Mack rolled her eyes, “Then my advice is: Do not look down.” 

I smiled, “Good advice!” I took a breath, grabbed the handrail and followed Paige. 

Once I started climbing I felt the ladder shudder and the window slam shut. I sighed in relief that Mack was on the ladder with us. 

As I climbed, the wind whipped at my hair and clothes as I slowly climbed, and believe me when I say, it took everything I had not to fall off. I had no idea how Paige was making the climb encumbered by a laptop bag. 

We were halfway up, when Paige’s foot slipped out of rung of the ladder. She yelped as she started to go down. The only thing that saved her was her laptop bag got snagged between the rungs and the wall.

She grabbed the handrails and held tight, but her feet flailed out into the air. I gasped out and scuttled up the ladder, my intent was to grab Paige’s feet and put them back onto the rungs of the ladder. Unfortunately, Paige was panicking; and when I managed to get to her, I almost fell backwards from what seemed to be a well-placed kick to my face. I let out my own yelp and held the side of my face and almost fell backwards since I was holding onto the train with one hand. 

I felt the ladder shudder again and felt a body press against my legs to hold me steady. I looked down at Mack. “What do we do?” I yelled out to her. 

Mack pushed me up. “Grab her legs!” I took my hand from my cheek and tried to grab Paige’s legs. After ducking another swing, I clung to the ladder and screamed out. “Paige! You have to stop kicking, you are going to knock us all off the ladder! PAIGE!” 

The train took a sudden turn, causing all of us to fly to the left. Mack, unsteady from trying to support her body and mine, screamed as her feet flew off the ladder. Without really thinking about it, I reached down and grabbed Mack by the shirt, trying to steady her as I held on for dear life with one hand. 

“Damn it that’s it!” I yanked Mack with all of my strength to put her back onto the ladder, once Mack had her feet on the rungs, I moved up the ladder, and mimicking the move Mack had done earlier, I pressed my body against Paige’s and yelled against the wind. “Paige! I know you’re scared, I know! It’s ok! Mack and me, we are not going to let you fall. But you have to calm down or you are going to kill us all! Paige!” She couldn’t hear me over the wind and she had frozen up. There was no way to move and nowhere to go.

Above my head, there was a loud bang. I looked up to see the door hanging opened. Mari leaned her body out and held out her hand. “Come on!” 

I wanted to scream with joy, instead I shoved one of my hands against Paige’s back. “MOVE!” 

Once Paige was in motion, I followed after her, dragging Mack with me. When got to the top, Mari reached out her hand and grabbed Paige. She pulled her in and pushed her to the floor. She held out her hand again. “Come on Amaia!” I grabbed her hand and she yanked me in as well. A few seconds later, I heard and oomph next to me and the door slamming shut. 

I groaned softly and pushed myself up to my hands and knees. And looked up into the face of doom since I had Darby and a very official Amtrak guy staring at me. 

I smiled a little, sure there was a bruise starting to purple on my cheek. “Uh…we were just taking a walk?” 

Darby just put her hands on her hips and glared. 

 

Darby grilled us for about 25 minutes, but finally let us off with a warning and told us that we had to clean up the room we had messed up due to what she called, our ‘shenanigans’. 

But she did let me and Paige keep our electronics, for which I was grateful. Considering I had 45 missed calls from Mama. 

After we cleaned up the room (which was not that messy), we walked down the hall to the stairs to go upstairs. As I opened the door, I said in a tired voice. “Talk about your bonding and quality time.” 

Mack chuckled softly, “I think next time we should just play a board game.” 

Paige huffed out a small laugh. “Yeah, Monopoly is the game of choice I have heard.” 

Mari nodded. “I think that would be safer than anymore…walks.” 

I pushed opened the door on the second floor and held it open. “I think they have Monopoly in the lounge. Do you guys want to play? I am too wound up to even think about sleep.” Plus my cheek was throbbing like a bitch. 

Everyone agreed and we all agree to meet in the lounge in half hour.

I headed for our room, I really wanted a hot bath, with bubbles. But all I got was a hot shower. Well ok, it was Lukewarm, but a shower nonetheless. 

After I was done, Mack jumped into the shower as Paige and Mari had elected to use the communal shower down the hall. I paused in the mirror over the sink and frowned at the bruise blossoming against my cheek. I was lucky I still had teeth from that kick. If it had been my nose it would have been broken for sure. 

Shaking my head, I changed into some sleep pants and a t-shirt, and walked out of the room rubbing my still damp hair with a towel. And managed to bump right into Aiden. 

“Oh for goodness sakes!” I growled out, “Must you?” 

Aiden raised an eyebrow, “Must I what? 

I rolled my eyes, tossed the towel down the laundry shoot and pulled my hair back with a rubber band. “Must you jump out from around corners and scare me?” 

He shrugged and gave me a once over. “I am not jumping out of corners, where are you going?” 

“I am going to the lounge to play Monopoly with the girls. Unless you can think of some reason I shouldn’t.” 

He held his hands up in surrender. “I am not under any authorization to tell you what to do.” 

“Good!” I stated and walked down the hallway, which was fairly quiet. Everyone must be in bed. 

When I was halfway down the hall, I heard his voice say. “But Monopoly? I didn’t think you were that ruthless; I had you more of a Game of Life person.” 

I turned and shot him a sour look. “Life is boring, why not play a game where you can win a million dollars from everyone.” 

He nodded and fell into step beside me. “Did you hear the rumor going around that there were students hanging out on the outside of the train?”

My cheeks heated up with a blush that I hoped the bruise hid. “I don’t have any idea what you are talking about.

He smirked and eyed my bruise. “Really? No idea? 

I had to resist the urge to punch him in his smug face, “Nope no idea. Gotta go!” 

I increased my steps to get into the Lounge and realized he was keeping up with me perfectly. “Ok now what do you want?” 

Aiden smiled, “Do you think anyone would mind if I came and played Monopoly too?” 

I made a noise that was between a growl and a groan. “You will have to ask the other girls, myself, I don’t care if you take a long walk off a short pier.” 

Aiden looked mildly amused, “That is the insult you pull you of thin air? Wow, I am being insulted by a true master.”

“You want a better insult? How about this; why don’t you go f-”

Aiden clapped his hand over her mouth. “Now, now, a lady doesn’t use such language.” 

He yelped when my small bare foot kicked him in the knee. When he let go, I smiled, “Your right, a lady uses her muscles.” I stomped on his foot for good measure and kept on walking. 

I walked into the lounge and pulled out Monopoly out of one the baskets and set it on the nearest table. The snack bar attendant was at her post, reading a book. 

I looked at Aiden who was leaning against the wall; his dark hair was mussed and he was wearing a pair of grey sleep pants and a black t-shirt. I rolled my eyes a little. “If you are going stay, you’re going to work. Will you grab one of those couches and move them close to the table. I don’t think it’s bolted to the floor, I think it’s just bungeed or something.” He nodded and walked over the couch, kneeled down and peered at the bottom. “Looks like it’s just hooked to the ground with some rings.” He moved the rings and pushed the couch over the table. He looked down at the ground. “Ah, it has some more rings here.” He hooked the rings together and smiled. “There.” 

I rolled my eyes. “Do you want a medal?” 

He smirked and was about to say something when I heard Mari shriek out, “Stop it Mack!” 

She ran into the lounge and flopped down on one of the couches and glared at Mack as she walked in wearing a clown shirt with a big red nose on the front. I sat down across from Mari and Mack sat next to me, I looked over at her and shook my head. “I don’t know if I can take you seriously at this game when you are wearing a Clown Shirt.” 

Mack smiled and beeped the nose, which made Mari shoot her a glare. “Our new friend does not like clowns; and your stalker is here.” 

I sighed softly, “He is not my stalker. He did want to join us for the game though. I don’t care either way.” Paige sat down next to Mari and Aiden pulled a chair up on the other side of the table. 

Mack smirked a little, “I don’t mind either, just know that I am good at this game.” She directed the comment more at Aiden than anyone else. 

Paige smiled, “I don’t mind either; I would like to be the Race Car if no one cares.” 

Mari nodded, “That’s fine, and I want to be the Dog. Also I can be the banker if no one else wants to.” 

I grabbed up a small token, “I will be the Cat and I don’t mind if you are banker.”

Mack placed her token next to mine, “Battleship and be banker Mari, its fine with me.” 

Paige nodded and Aiden shrugged, “I hate being banker so it’s fine with me.” He reached out to grab a token, but before he could, I handed him the Thimble. “You can play this one.” 

Aiden looked at the small piece in his hand. “Come on, this is an old lady piece. It sucks!” 

I batted her eyes and took my money from Mari, “Now, now, a lady doesn’t use such language.” 

Aiden shot me a look and was about to say something else when Mack cleared her throat. “Um, are we going to play Monopoly or flap our gums?” 

We rolled the dice and the highest number was awarded to Paige. Once she rolled, the game was on. We were pretty quiet as we moved our pieces around the board. The silence was broke however when Mack looked at Aiden. “So question for you? Why didn’t you burn up in the sun today?” 

Aiden chuckled and rolled the dice. “Because I am a Novus.” 

I frowned a little. “A what?” 

He chuckled again. “It’s basically saying I am a Teenage Vampire, as opposed to a Baby Vampire.” He moved his piece to Illinois Avenue which belong to me. He handed me 20 dollars and I put it in my pile. “So what does that mean?” Paige asked. 

Aiden smiled. “Basically, you have three levels of vampires. Sometime there are four, but that is rare.” 

We all stared at him and he chuckled. “Ok, so the first level of being a vampire is called a Liber and that lasts until you are about 300 years old.” 

Mack, who had been taking a drink started to cough. I patted her on the back, but I was staring at him. Mack sucked in a breath and choked out. “Your 300 years old?” 

Aiden nodded. “Well, if you add the age I have would have been aging as a human, I am about 600 years old. Technically. But for sake of argument, I have been a Vampire for 400 years, so I am a Novus. My Sire, Anthony, he is 600, just turned, so he is an Elder.” 

I recovered first before anyone else. “Um, well you must share your moisturizing techniques, your skin looks great.”

Aiden rolled his eyes at me. “You know, you guys are going to age essentially the same way.” 

Paige’s mouth dropped open. ‘Do what?” 

Aiden nodded, “Yes, it’s part of your DNA. The Dhampir aging process is slowed down as well. You don’t live as long as we do, but you live well beyond what normal humans would.” 

I blinked my eyes, “Wait, you age?” 

Aiden nodded, looking slightly surprised. “Yes, Vampires age. We are alive.” 

Ok, you could knock me over with a feather. “But,” I said. “Vampires are supposed to be dead.” 

He sighed softly. “If I explain, can we please get back to playing the game?” 

I looked at the others and we all gave our agreement. Aiden rubbed his face. “Ok, Vampires are not dead. Literature has painted us this way because who can believe a person would be alive for so long. But the reality is, if we were dead, how could we be up and walking around? The only things that come back from the dead and act alive is Zombies. So no, I am not dead. 

Mack smirked a little. “Then how do you explain your longevity there Vampy?” 

He smiled. “I am remarkably well preserved. Can we continue please?” 

 

An hour later, everyone had property and was in the process of building houses. Mari however, seemed to be skipping houses and had built hotels on New York Avenue, Tennessee Avenue and St. James Place; and she was in the process of putting them on Boardwalk and Park place. Mack kept giving her long looks every time she built one, almost glaring at her. I poked her in the side a couple of times to get her to stop. When Mack rolled and landed on Boardwalk, Mari almost crowed in delight. 

Mack looked like she was about to say something, when the Snack bar Attendant said she was getting ready to close up and if we wanted anything we needed to come and get it. 

I stood up fast and grab Mack’s arm, “That sounds like a good idea, let’s take a break and get some snacks.” Mack sat for a minute before standing up and walking with me. 

Paige and Aiden were in front of us, so I turned to Mack. “You need to calm down, it’s just a game. I have known you for only one day and I know this is not how you normally act, so what’s up?” 

Mack shrugged, “Just seems interesting that she is able to build hotels without breaking a sweat.” 

I sighed, “I am sure she is just having a lucky night.” 

Mack shrugged against and went to the front of the line. Paige walked back to stand with me eating her Reese’s Pieces. Aiden stepped back with us as well, sucking on a Tootsie Roll Pop.

When Mack got her Hershey bar, I stepped up to the counter. I had just gotten a bag of M&M’s when there was yelp. I whipped around to see Aiden holding Mack by the waist, Mari was pressed against the couch, a huge stack of orange 500 dollar bills in her lap and spilling onto the floor. 

I took a few steps over to Aiden who had his hands wrapped around her waist. “Whoa, dude what happened?” 

Mack pushed against Aiden’s strong grip. “That no account was cheating! She was hiding the bills under the board and pulling 'em out when she wanted to build! Let me go! I am gonna punch her face in!” 

I was completely shocked, but I grabbed her arm, “Whoa now! There will be no punching! This is not going to solve anything.” I looked at Mari who was frantically trying to gather the money into her hands. “You were cheating?!” 

Mari face went stone still; she looked straight into my eyes and said: “I have no idea what she is talking about.” 

Paige came up next to me her eyes boring into Mari’s. “I think we should clean up the game and call it a night. We can sort this out in the morning.” She said softly. 

I rubbed my face and nodded. “Aiden, will you please take Mack to the room and keep her company ‘til Paige and I get there?” 

He nodded and took a still spitting mad Mack out of the lounge. Paige began gathering the spilled money. Mari walked over to me. “Thanks.” She said, her face still calm and smooth. 

I gave Mari a long, even look. “I think you should stay in here for the night, Mack might do you serious injury.” 

Mari nodded and leaned down to help pick up the game. I turned to Paige and said. “I'm going to go check on Mack and make sure she has not created a shiv.” Paige nodded and I left the lounge. 

As I walked down the hall, I paused for a minute outside of Darby’s door. After a few seconds of thought, I grabbed a piece of paper from the pad that was tacked to the wall and used the pen tied to a string to write a quick message which I shoved under the door. 

The next morning, Darby awoke to the hastily scribbled message that said: Amaia, Mack and Paige CAN’T live with Mari, someone might be hurt.


	5. Chapter 5

One Week before Amaia’s Incident with Taylor 

The thunder crashed loudly over the small diner causing the small waitress inside to let out a tiny gasp as she filled the coffee mug of the lone occupant inside.

She smiled at the patron in front of her. “Some storm huh?”

The patron nodded and sipped the coffee, gazed fixed in the waitress. “Makes you wonder if the stories of ghosts and goblins are true. What is creeping around that we don’t know about right now.” 

The waitress gave swore that the patron’s eyes glittered at the line. “Let me know if you need anything else.” She walked away, and it was not the slow gait she had been favoring before the patron noted, it was a faster one that caused the patron to smirk, “Managed to scare her.” 

“I wouldn’t call her scared.” A soft voice spoke from across the table. 

The patron jumped about a foot. “Jesus, give someone a little warning before you just appear from nowhere.” The patron grabbed the tiny sugar packets from the tiny metal holder and shook them vigorously. “You could have given me a heart attack.” 

“I am not concerned about your various health ailments. I am more concerned about your inability to follow the simplest instructions.” 

“Hey now, I have done everything you have asked, I haven’t failed in any of my orders.” 

“You brought another person into this. The condition of your release was you were to obey my orders.” A hand slammed down onto the table making a small pucker into the plastic top of the table, as well as making the bottles shudder. “You are not doing a very good job, if anything, I am starting to wonder if locking you back up would be a good reminder of what happens to people who disobey.” 

“Ok, so I brought someone else in. I had to deviate a little.” The hand across the table curled into a fist. “Ok, Ok, I am sorry but listen; the extra person will ensure the ultimate goal. I mean, I am just one person, I can only handle so much. I figured you would be happy to have an extra set of eyes around. Come on, cut me a break for taking some initiative to make things easier.” 

“Deviating is not the same as taking initiative, moron!” 

“Hey now, no name calling.” The glittering eyes made him sigh. “Ok, listen, I did this for a reason, believe me when I say that I have been following your orders to a tee and if I wasn’t, you would know about it. I am sorry that you are not happy, but I think I have been doing a good job.” 

“Which is the only reason you are still alive!” 

“Wow, for real? You would kill me over this small deviation?” 

“I would kill you because you are increasingly annoying and full of yourself. You don’t realize that this is a sensitive situation, one misstep on your part and everything I have been working so hard for comes tumbling down. Stop screwing around, do your job!” The hand shot out and wrapped around the slim throat of the patron. “Because I do not suffer fools lightly.” 

The voice gasped out. “Ok, ok you made your point. I understand!” 

The hand was immediately released, which was followed by choked coughing. “Good, I am glad you understand. I will let you keep the spare, but only because you were right, you can’t keep your eyes on everything. But that is my only consensus, disobey again and see the depths of my wrath.” 

With that, the patron was alone in the Diner. Sucking a breath, the patron pulled out a cellphone and dialed. “Hey,” The patron said when the other person picked up. “Just got done with my meeting, can you come get me?” 

“Sure, how did it go?” 

The patron rubbed a hand across the bruising flesh. “Let’s just say, the boss has made a point to remind me who is in charge.”

 

“You have got to be kidding me?” 

“What?”

“You honestly think that I would be willing to do that with you Aiden?”

“If not me, then who?”

“I bet Mack would be a better teacher.” 

“Please, Mack doesn't have the patience I do. You would be better off with me. I know how to do the job, and do it right.”

“Are you accusing me of not making it a good time for Amaia, Vampire boy?” Mack questioned from her seat.

“No, I am just saying that with me, she would have a better time, you would rush her through it and she would never understand the subtle techniques you use to make it really fun.” Aiden replied. As he glanced over at her.

“Fine, but I stand by the convictions that I know how to do it right."

“Your protests are duly noted; now Amaia, come and sit here with me. It’s really easy to learn how to do this.”

After a few minutes of silence, “Your right, this is not hard at all!” I stated with a smile. 

Aiden smiled and nodded. “Anyone can learn Chess, it’s just a matter of patience and being cunning.” 

Mack rolled her eyes and muttered, “And taking control of the center.” 

Aiden smirked a little. “Thank you for that interjection Mack. And you are correct, the center, particularly the squares e4, d4, e5 and d5, is the most important area of the chessboard; control of the center allows more mobility for the pieces.” 

I nodded as Aiden demonstrated by moving his pawn forward, I mimicked the move and protested when he stopped me from claiming a piece. “Pawns can only attack diagonally. As can Bishops.” He proved his point by pushing his Bishop forward and claiming my pawn. 

I yelped as he claimed my piece with ease. “Hey! That’s not fair!” 

Aiden shrugged. “That’s chess, a game of wits and cunning.” 

Mack snorted, “And cheating apparently.” At Aiden’s look, she went back to playing on my cell phone. 

I rolled my eyes and went back to playing Chess. After 20 minutes of Aiden laying siege to the board, he knocked over my King and said, “Check Mate.” 

I growled and he smiled impishly at me. “You just need practice, I am sure next time you will do better.” 

I shot him a dirty look and flopped onto the couch next to Mack. I drew my legs underneath me and took my phone out of her hand. “Aiden, you have what did you say, 600 years’ experience? I would rather skip getting my ass handed to me.” 

Mack rolled her eyes at me. “Should have let me teach you.”

I rubbed my face a little. “It has been a long five days.” I muttered softly. 

Mack nodded and took the phone back. “At least it’s almost over now. You know Darby said this morning that we are on the last leg of our trip.” 

I nodded and took my phone again as Aiden came and sat in the chair across from us. “I will just be glad to get there.” 

Paige stretched her legs and dug her toes dug into Mack’s thigh as she typed on her computer. “Did you guys know that the Island has a No Fly Zone order in place? Any bi-plane or bigger have to be re-routed.”

Mack made a non-committal grunt and shifted her body, trying to steal the phone again. “Sounds like we are a dirty little secret.” 

“It’s just protectiveness.” Darby said. We all looked up to see her standing in the doorway, and holding some envelopes. “I have class schedules.” She handed each of us an envelope, “If there are any questions, please let me know.” She smiled at everyone and left the lounge.

I ripped open my envelope and pulled out a piece of paper. “Hmm, looks like I have Math, English, and Science in the morning, lunch at noon, and then I have Dhampirs in American History.” I blinked my eyes a little at that one and continued to read, “This course provides instruction of the roles Dhampirs have played in the American past from the pre-colonial era to the present. The course explores Dhampirs’s contributions to the political, economic, social, and cultural development of the United States.”

Mack shook her head, “Well that is something you don't hear every day.” She looked down at her own paper. “Looks like I follow the same morning activities, but I start my afternoon with Psychology of Vampires: This course provides instruction on the psychological, biological, cultural and social factors of Vampires.” 

Aiden chuckled and shook his head. “Good, now maybe you guys will stop trying to poke and prod me.” 

Mack reached out and poked him in the thigh. He yelped and glared at her. “Just testing.” 

Paige had sat up and was looking at her paper. “Hmm, I have first afternoon class with Amaia and then I go to Vampire History: This course provides an introduction to the cultural and historical background of Vampires. A look into Vampire's government, social classes, religion, politics, both past and present. You know, I think this is going to be the only worthwhile class we have. Isn't there a saying, know your enemy, know yourself or something?” 

Aiden smiled “Actually, the quote goes: If you know both yourself and your enemy, you can win a hundred battles without jeopardy. But I think that would fall more under Dhampir Physical Training. 

Mack nodded and read, “That's is the last class of the day,” She looked at my schedule and then Paige’s. “Looks like we have this class all together.” She cleared her throat, “This course provides instruction in the proper exercise techniques and principles to improve core strength, posture, flexibility, speed, muscular strength, and muscular endurance. Emphasis will be placed on the basic techniques of anticipating, avoiding, and protecting oneself from physical attack. Well how about that, you mean they are actually going to teach us to take care of ourselves? And ain’t this the class you are teaching Vampire boy?” 

Aiden rolled his eyes. “Yes, and I wouldn't say they are going to teach you to take care of yourselves. Dhampirs, on their own couldn't take down a Vampire. The most a Dhampir could do is maybe slow down a vampire. You have a better chance of doing serious damage in a group. Ganging up on one with at least four Dhampirs would give you an advantage. But then again, you guys are pretty young so going in a group may not work either.” 

A loud silence followed after Aiden made his little speech. I cleared my throat to break it.

“So what would happen if we tried to take on a Vampire alone?” 

Aiden said nothing for a brief moment; then lifted his head to look into all of our eyes. “Same thing that happens when you’re King has no more options. Check-Mate.” 

 

Whether it was laziness on our part, or if Aiden’s words had freaked us out. But by some unspoken agreement, we spent the rest of the day in the lounge.

I didn't know about anyone else, but the idea that we were supposed to be so powerful, but against the actual enemy we were sitting ducks was pretty disquieting to me.

About 9:00, Mack got up and stretched and tried to peer into the darkness to see where we were. She sighed softly. “I am going to go get my stuff, you guys gonna come?” 

Paige and I got up to follow her, Aiden followed behind us. Once we got to the room, Aiden said he would meet us back in the lounge. 

I grabbed up my backpack and started stuffing my things into it. Once I was done, I stepped out into the hall to wait for the others. The train rocked gently and all was quiet. Which was probably due to the fact that it was 9:00 and most of the kids were in their rooms or asleep. I would love to do the same since I was so tired, but safety in numbers as it were. I sighed softly and leaned against the wall. 

Suddenly, the lights started to flicker. 

I lifted my head up and pushed away from the wall. I set my bag on the floor stepped into the middle of the hall. I looked up at the flickering lights a little confused, the whole five days I had been on the train, the lights had never flickered. A whistling noise caught my attention and I peered down the hall. The door that led down to the lower part of the train was partially open, but that didn't explain the whistling unless something was opened downstairs. 

I looked back at my room door, thinking of getting Mack and Paige. I decided against it and started walking down the hall. I could just close the door at the end of the hall and run back. As I moved closer to the door, the whistling increased to almost a shriek. I took a breath, and put my hand towards the door to close it. Suddenly a hand reached out from the darkness and grabbed my wrist. I let out a scream and yanked on my wrist, trying to get the hand to let it go. I looked over my shoulder expecting to see Aiden and the others appear, but the hallway stayed empty. 

I yanked harder, still screaming. I pried at the fingers around my wrist trying to get them off. I had just managed to pry one away from my skin when the door flew opened. In front of me stood a woman, she was tall, had almond shaped green eyes and long black hair. She smiled at me, her teeth glinting. “Well, what a pretty morsel.” She lunged forward, teeth bared. 

My eyes flew opened and I found myself staring up at the ceiling of the hallway, the clatter of wheels loud under my head. I sat up fast and looked around. Nothing was amiss, the door at the end of the hall was closed tight, the lights were not flickering and, (after checking my neck), no marks on my person. I pulled myself up on shaking legs and leaned against the wall. It was obvious that I had a nightmare. I took a breath and grabbed my bag. It couldn't be anything else but a nightmare, there was no one else on this train with us. 

When the other girls came out, I put on a smile. Mack gave me a long look. 

“You ok?” 

I nodded, “Yeah, fine. Just tired.” 

She gave me another look and shrugged. “Ok, come on, let’s go to the lounge.” 

As I followed the girls, I kept stealing glances to the door at the end of the hall. It had been so real, I never had dreams like that. Weird. I rubbed my arms and walked a little faster. 

I finally fell asleep about 11:30, everyone else had dropped off before that, but I was too keyed up to sleep. The nightmare had rattled me, mostly because I never had nightmares like that, it was probably just nerves. But still, when I did lay down to sleep, I cuddled a little closer to Aiden. 

The train stopping is what woke me up sometime later. It felt like five minutes, but when I pulled my phone out of my pocket, it was 3:00 in the morning. I groaned softly, sat up and almost smacked heads with Paige who was also trying to sit up. I blinked my eyes and leaned against the couch trying to get my head together. I heard footsteps and cracked opened an eye to see Mack. She was dressed in fresh clothes, hair brushed and was holding her backpack, “Get up, we're here.” She said firmly

I groaned softly and tried to push myself up, but fell back against the couch again, which made Paige flop over and land her head in my lap. “We're here?” 

Mack nodded, “Come on, Aiden already went to the front to check things out. Darby says we need to move.” 

Paige moaned softly. “Five more minutes.” I closed my eyes and nodded, well it was more of a head flop. “Yeah, five more minutes.”

The sudden splash of water on my face made me shriek and leap to my feet. Paige was likewise launched upwards (due to her head being in my lap), which caused us to bump into each other and fall to the ground. 

Mack stood over us holding an empty water bottle. She dropped our bags next to us and put Paige’s laptop case on her own shoulder. “Come on you guys, we gotta go!” 

Paige rubbed her face and glared at Mack. “So sorry Mack we are not morning people like you are.” She got on her knees and clasped her hands together, “Please forgive us.” 

Mack rolled her eyes and hauled Paige to her feet. “Oh knock it off.” She shoved her forward. “March woman.” 

I stood up, grabbed my bag and stumbled behind them in a zombie like shuffle. As we walked down the corridor, the noise level grew louder and louder. I saw why when we had to stop short so not to crash into the body in front of us. 

We could hear Darby trying to speak over the crowd but there was no way to hear her over the commotion. Mack sighed and shoved forward, dragging us with her. We made it through the crowd and we almost fell into Aiden. “Hey Vampy, what goes on?” 

Aiden shook his head. “Craziness! But we will be getting out soon. Stick close to me.” 

I was about to comment when a loud screech of a bullhorn was heard. I yelped and covered my ears. Darby’s voice came across loudly. “Good Morning! I am welcoming you to Redding, California. There are vans outside ready to take you on to the Island. We have loaded the Purple’s in and next are the Blues. So if you are a blue, please step forward. 

Of course, the crowd surged forward, almost knocking me off my feet. Aiden grabbed my arm and helped steady me. Darby screamed into the bull horn. “Calmly! There is plenty of room for everyone!” 

In the end, Darby had to count people off by fours and then let them walk out, so it was another hour before we got out of there. I ended up being carried by Aiden piggyback style. I couldn't help it, my legs were hurting so bad. When we finally walked into the terminal, I was struck by how small the building was, much smaller than Tennessee’s. Aiden set me down and I walked across the black and white checkered floor towards the door. As I did, I looked over at Mack, “I thought things in California were supposed to be bigger.” 

She shrugged. “Maybe we are in the miniature version.” When we stepped outside, I was surprised by the sudden darkness. There were no lights anywhere, the most anyone was using was flashlights as they walked us to the passenger vans that were lined up against the tree-lined concrete barrier. 

One of the flash light wielding helpers opened the van door and waved us in. A young man sat in the Driver’s seat. He smiled at us as we got on, but I noticed his gaze lingered on Mack. She didn't, but I did. Aiden sat down in the passenger seat, and smiled. “Hey Sammy.” 

Mack slid into the seat behind the driver (apparently named Sammy), I slid in next to her and Paige slid in after me. Once we were buckled, I leaned forward to Aiden. “You know him?” 

Aiden smiled. “Yeah, that is Sammy Cole, his dad is the one that teaches Dhampir Physical Training.” 

Sammy smiled at me from the rearview mirror, I smiled back, which faded when Paige laid her head down on my shoulder and started to snore. I looked Mack, “Want to trade?” 

She shook her head and leaned forward. “Hey Sammy boy, can you turn on the radio? Does this monster have that?” 

Sammy looked at her in the rearview mirror. “We have Sirius in here, do you have a preference? 

Mack shrugged, “Whatever blows your dress up, I guess.” 

I had to giggle at that one, actually I started belly laughing. To my sleep deprived mind, the idea of Sammy in a dress was just hysterical. 

Mack just shook her head. “Please excuse her, she is a nut.” 

Sammy shook his head. “I don't mind, she can be as nutty as she wants, it will make the next 4 hours entertaining.” 

Mack stiffened next to me and sat up a little straighter looking at Sammy. “Do what?” 

Sammy nodded, “Yeah, we are not quite finished. We have to wait for them to get your luggage out, then we have a two hour ride ahead of us and then a Ferry ride.” 

I blinked a little. “I thought we were going to be disappearing into the woods.” 

Sammy grinned a sassy grin that made his dark eyes sparkle. “Well, to a degree we are. It’s woods that sit on an island, in the middle of the ocean.” 

Mack groaned next to me and shook her head. “I don't believe this. I am tired of traveling.” 

Aiden grinned at her, “Could be worse. We could be going by horse and buggy.” 

Mack snorted and turned her gaze out the window. I shrugged my shoulders to dislodge Paige from my shoulder, but she just started snoring louder. 

I jumped a little when the door opened in back of us and there was some bangs as stuff was loaded in. The door slammed and a few seconds later, our door suddenly slid open and Darby smiled. “Alright Sammy, you guys are loaded and can head on out.” 

She shut the door and Sammy started the van. There was a jerk and we were on our way. The drive through town was pretty fast, due to lack of traffic and people. Before I knew it, we were traveling down a two lane highway, surrounded by dense, dark woods. And that is the last thing I remember.

 

A hard jolt woke me up later. I sat up a little and looked around. I was leaning against Mack, whose head was pillowed against the window. And I had my legs thrown over Paige’s lap whose head was against my stomach. I shifted again and looked to the front of the van. Aiden was leaning against the window, also asleep and Sammy was still driving. I yawned and peered out the window to the gray light that was breaking up the darkness. We were by the ocean it looked like, along a highway. I cleared my throat and said softly to Sammy. “Where are we?” 

Sammy looked at me in the rearview mirror and smiled. “By rights, I should take you to a Monster Convention, your hair is enough to scare folks to death.” I gasped, reached up to fix my hair and realized he was teasing me. He smiled deeper, showing off dimples and shook his head. “We are coming into Arcadia, about 20 minutes away from Eureka docks that will take us out to the Island.”

I sat up a little, jostling Paige who grumbled at me. I peered out the window and my breath just caught in my throat. I had never seen the ocean in my life, so it was amazing to see it. There was no beach to speak of, but the waves lapped against the concrete barrier on the freeway. 

There were seagulls dipping along the waves, and pelicans resting on different wooden poles sticking out of the water. 

“This is amazing.” I whispered softly and leaned against Mack a little more, making her grumble in her sleep. Sammy looked in the rearview mirror at me again. “What are you doing?” 

I grunted softly “Trying to get to my phone.” He quirked an eyebrow as I finally got into a position to dig my phone out. I pulled off of Mack who sighed softly. I sat up a little and pressed the button to check the time. 5:45 danced across the screen at me. I groaned softly and Sammy said. “Problem?” 

I shook my head. “Just it’s almost six in the morning, and I have gotten little to no sleep, how do they expect me to function today?” 

He chuckled warmly, “Well lucky for you, they don't expect you to be up and functioning until tonight when we have dinner. And classes don't start until next week since its Friday.” 

I blew out a breath. “That is a relief.” 

20 minutes later, we were bumping onto the concrete ramp that would get us onto the Ferry. There was another bump and Sammy maneuvered the van into a small spot. He put the car in park and turned it off. He looked back at me and smiled, “We can get out and stretch our legs a little, it’s about 20 minutes to the island.” I nodded, untangled myself from Paige and opened the door to get out. 

Mack sat up a little, slitting her eyes at me as Paige fell against her. “Are you getting out?” 

I nodded as I held onto the sliding door. “I want to see the ocean.” 

She yawned and unclicked her seatbelt. “Well, since I'm awake, I will come too.” 

When Mack got up, Paige fell back on the bench seat, still snoring. I went to the front passenger side and opened it. Aiden had been leaning against the window, so when I opened the door, he fell sideways. His eyes shot opened and he looked at me. “Wha-” 

I smiled at him, “Want to come look at the ocean?” 

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Thanks, but I am quite happy getting some more sleep before we get there.” 

I rolled my eyes and shut the door for him, almost catching his nose. Mack walked over and rapped on the window. “Come on Vampy, how often do you get to see the ocean?” She rapped harder and Aiden opened the door. 

“Go away. Let me sleep.” His dark green eyes darkened, to an almost black color. I grabbed Mack before she could say anything, and drug her away. She huffed and yanked her arm away. “Why did you do that?” 

I shook my head at her. “Dude, I think he was seriously going to do bodily injury to you. There is one thing I have learned living with my Mama, never poke a non-morning person.” 

She laughed and shook her head. “Ah, he is just fun to harass.” 

I shook my head and walked with her towards the front of the ferry. The sun was just starting to rise behind us, which cast a stream of color across the still darkened ocean. My breath caught as a dot appeared on the horizon. “Wow…that looks amazing.” 

Mack shook her head. “It’s just a dot.” She looked over at Sam. “Hey Sammy boy, how do ya’ll keep vampires from coming over. Place don't look too secure to me.” 

Sammy walked over and leaned against the railing. “We have various security devices set up around the Island to deter them, or alert us to know they are there. But we have an advantage because, Vampires have a hard time with swimming.” 

I blinked my eyes and started to giggle. “Vampires can't swim?” 

Sammy shook his head. “Nope, they lack the buoyancy needed to swim.” 

Mack raised her eyebrows. “Any particular reason why?” 

Sammy shrugged. “I think it has something to do with the way their bodies are made up. They age very slowly, so I think they have too much pressure in their bodies which makes them too heavy.”

I smiled a little, “Good idea building the City on the Island.” 

Sammy nodded and wandered away, mumbling something about getting something eat. Mack followed behind him telling him to stop mumbling and tell her what they had to eat on this boat. 

My gaze followed them to the door that led inside the white covered area, once they disappeared, I glanced at the other vans pulled up in spots. Most of the occupants were still inside, but a few bedraggled souls were wandering around the deck of the ferry looking like zombies. I turned my attention away from them and back to the ocean. The color had lightened a lot, now it was a pale blue, streaked with bits of yellows and oranges, the dot on the horizon seemed to get bigger and bigger as we came closer. 

I was so lost in my staring and thoughts that when a hand touched my shoulder, my heart jumped into my throat. I turned to see Sammy grinning at me. “Sorry, didn't mean to make you jump, but we need to get back into the van, we are getting ready to dock.” 

I nodded my head and walked back to the van. When I got there, Paige was still spread out on the seat snoring loudly. I sighed, grabbed her by the seatbelt and hauled her up. Keeping my grip on the seatbelt, I climbed over her and sat down in the middle again. I let go of her seatbelt and her head dropped on my shoulder, still snoring. A few minutes later, Mack slid into the van, a bag of potato chips clenched between her teeth. 

“Do you-” I started to say, but before I could finish, she climbed over Paige and I to get to her seat. Once she was sitting, she put on her seatbelt and pulled the bag of chips out of her mouth. I shook my head a little. “You know, I could have held those for you.” 

She shrugged her shoulders. “Eh, I had a handle on it.” She popped on of the chips into her mouth and then tilted the bag towards me in offering. I pulled out a chip and nibbled on it as Sammy got into the van and started the engine. “Ok this might take a while, but we will be on shore soon.” 

It took about 10 minutes for us to finally get off the ferry and onto the dock. When we finally did, we had to wait another 20 minutes before finally getting out onto the main road. By this time, Paige was awake, but now Mack was starting to doze off. I was about to doze off myself, when suddenly Paige propelled herself forward across mine and Mack’s lap. 

“An Applebee’s! Oh, I love Applebee’s! Are we allowed off campus to go eat I would love-”

Mack growled and pushed her back. “Get off me ya fool!” 

Paige fell back into her seat and pouted a little. “I was just trying to see out.” 

Mack rolled her eyes. “You don't have to fly out the window to get a view, just look out.”

Paige stuck her tongue out and then leaned back in her seat. “I just wanted to see Applebee’s.” 

Sammy chuckled from the front. “To answer your question Paige, yes you are allowed to go off campus. Lots of kids have family in town and go home for the weekends. Others have families that come into town for Holidays. And of course, during the Valentine’s Dance, people-”

Mack started choking on her chip. I whacked her on the back and she gasped out. “Valentine’s Dance?” 

Sammy nodded and braked for a red light, “Yeah, it’s our annual dance.” 

Mack nodded. “I see.” 

I had to smile, “I am guessing dances are not your top 10 list.” 

She shook her head. “It’s too girly for my tastes.” 

Sammy smiled as he came to a fork in the road. “Well you are not required to go, but it’s still fun.” 

Mack said something in response, but I didn't really hear it. My eyes were trailing along the dirt road we were on. Down below us was the town. Houses were laid out in neat rows, along with a dotting cars trailing down the streets. The large white building in front of us was laid out almost like an apartment complex. It had several buildings that were two story, and then one story buildings laid out in a semi-circle with a gazebo sitting nearby. It wasn't as amazing as Elizabeth’s house, but it was pretty nice. Sammy pulled in front of the two-story place and parked. “Here we go, this will be your housing ladies. Come on, I will help you.” 

I followed Paige out of the van and once my feet touched the ground, I just stared. I stood stock still and stared. It was a much lovelier place than what I had first seen. I felt very much at home here. Sammy was directing some people to the back of the van to get our things and Darby was on the steps calling for all of us to follow her. As I climbed up the stairs with Paige and Mack, I felt shiver go down my spine. I turned to look behind me and saw a large mansion tucked away on the hillside. It was not close to our dorms, but it I had a feeling, in the center of my stomach that someone was watching us. 

Or more specifically, watching me.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is some more chapters! Hope everyone is enjoying it! 
> 
> Thanks to @Jambee & @Shy0ne for their kudos!!

When I woke up, I felt like I had slept for 2 days.

I sat up in the bed and stretched. I didn’t remember coming up here, well I did, but it was mostly vague things. But the bed was very comfy, way better than the train that was for sure. I flopped back down after my stretch and gave the room a once over. It was a very large room with a curve at the end of it and a bank of windows across the whole curve, giving us a great view of the ocean, which was foggy and dim.

My bed was against the left hand wall next to a large window. Mack was across from me, curled up in her own bed next to another window. Well, the only way I knew it was her was the fact that there was the word Mackenzie in wooden letters over her bed; other than that, she was so buried in blankets, I wouldn't have been able to guess. A quick scan of the room showed Paige curled up in the bed across from Mack, right next to a jutted wall which led into what I assumed was a walk in closet. She too, had a little wooden name above her bed. 

I twisted my head up to see my own name above the bed, then looked next to me and sighed. It was obvious by the layout, that there should have been another bed next to mine. I sighed again and gave the room another glance, there were desks set up against the curve of the room in front of the windows. 

After I looked at Mack and Paige again, I decided they were not rising from the dead anytime soon. And I had to pee in the worst way. So, I climbed out of bed and almost fell over the suitcases scattered by my bed. I leaned back onto the bed to catch myself and drew my feet up. “Well, that proves I brought my bags in.” I muttered to myself. I glanced over at the table next to my bed. It had a small table lamp, a large packet that said ‘Welcome’ on the front and my cell phone attached to the charger.

I leaned over, unplugged the phone, and got off the bed again. This time, I carefully picked my way over the suitcases and the open box until I was safely standing at the end of the bed. I looked to my right and saw a set of double doors. I quietly moved toward the doors, opened them and peered out. It was a sitting room. There were couches and chairs scattered around with a large TV mounted to the wall and another door on the far right hand side of the room. I set my cell phone down on the couch and ran towards the door. I opened it, hoping against hope that it was what I thought it was. Trust me, I was overjoyed when I realized it was indeed a bathroom. It was a fairly large bathroom, with everything you would need.

After I was done, I came out and went back to the couch. I sat down tucking my legs underneath me and checked my cell phone. I know my eyes went huge when I saw that it was almost 2:00 in the afternoon. My mouth opened and closed a few times and did some quick calculations in my head. We had finally gotten here at about 7:00 in the morning, stumbled our way upstairs to our room and did stuff that I didn't remember (and hoped no one had pictures of) which probably took an hour, so we laid down by 8:00. Ok, well 6 hours was not as scary as like 12. That was ok. 

I sighed softly and noticed that there was a Wi-Fi signal flashing in the corner of my phone. I had told Mama that they would have Wi-Fi here! I pulled the tab down and the Wi-Fi network available tab. It popped up to the Wi-Fi signal: Dorm Room 503. It needed a password though. I sighed softly. “What the heck could the password be?” I muttered to myself. 

“Try Password One.” A voice said from the end of the couch. 

I let out a shriek, propelled myself backwards, and managed to flip over the arm of the couch and land on the ground. After laying on the floor for a few seconds, I rolled to my knees and peered over the edge of the couch. Aiden was staring at me from where he was standing, his green eyes on me and they were actually sparkling with laughter! I growled and stood up. He gave a small wave. “Uh, hey.” 

I got to my feet and blew a lock of hair out of my face. “Why are you in here? Is it to scare the shit out of me?!” 

He lifted his eyebrows at me in confusion. “Um, I came to check on you guys and see if you were up since they are getting ready to serve a late lunch. And after, they want to have a small assembly, a Meet N Greet thing.” When I said nothing, he sighed heavily. “I'm sorry I scared you.”

I shot him the dirtiest look I could manage and moved around to the front of the couch. “Oh why would you think you scared me? It couldn't have anything to do with that somersault off of the couch and onto the floor could it. And I bet it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that I screamed at the top of my lungs either!” 

He blinked his eyes and then shook his head. “First of all, you fell backwards, there was no somersault and second of all, you didn't scream at the top of your lungs. You shrieked.” 

I growled at him again and tossed a throw pillow at him. “You are the biggest asshole I have ever met!” 

He caught the pillow and rolled his eyes. “My, my. You are quite testy when you haven't had your 8 hours aren't you?” I started to say something, but he waved his hand. “Can you please just get the other girls up and moving; I am sure you guys are hungry and the Meet N Greet is important for new Dhampirs.” 

Before I could answer, he turned on his heel and started to leave, but stopped. “Wait, is your phone charged?” 

I looked at him and tilted my head. “Yeah why?” 

He shook his head. “We came in early this morning, you had hardly any sleep, you were a zombie, but yet, you remembered to plug in your phone?” 

I smiled a little. “I am a teenager.”

He sighed and headed out the door. 

After he was gone, I walked over to the door, opened it slowly to a crack and peered in. Mack and Paige were still sound asleep. Apparently that meant the walls and doors were potentially sound proof. It also explained how they slept through my temper fit over Aiden.

I decided I wasn't going to try and wake them up right now, I hated waking people up, call it a lingering fear from dealing with Mama for so long. Instead, I start getting my clothes to get dressed. Once I had done that, I would try and wake them up. “It’s a good plan.” I mumbled to myself.

I walked over to my bed and went to open one of the suitcases. As I bent to get it, I knocked the opened box over. A bunch of my hair stuff rolled out and across the floor towards where Mack and Paige were sleeping. “Well that is just great.” I muttered to myself and went over to retrieve my things. Most of it had stayed on my side of the room, but I noticed that one of the hair ties had rolled right between their beds. “Double great!” 

I dropped to my hands and knees and crawled over to pick it up. I wrapped my hand around the escaped hair tie, and then put my arm on Paige’s bed to pull myself up. A sudden shriek and kick to the face made me cry out. I dropped the hair tie and grabbed my face with both hands. When I did, because I was off balance from the kick, I fell backwards. I threw my hand out hoping to catch myself on Mack's bed. Unfortunately for me, Mack happened to be sleeping on her stomach with her head facing the bottom of her bed. I ended up putting my hand on the back of her neck. She shot up instantly with a yell and started swinging her arm around hitting me on the side of the head. 

I yelped as I fell to the floor holding one hand to my eye where Paige had nailed me and rubbing my ear and temple with the other hand. I looked up in time to see Mack’s hand launch out for another swing and I scooted on my butt away from her. 

“HEY! KNOCK THAT SHIT OFF! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?” I said angrily because, hell I was in pain. 

Mack leaned over her bed, glaring at me like she was thinking of hitting me again. "What the hell do you mean what's wrong with me? You're the one going around grabbing people on the back on the neck when they're sleeping." 

I glared back as best I could with just one eye. "I didn't mean to grab you. I was falling and trying to catch myself since the ass over there decided I was a friggen' soccer ball and was trying to score the winning goal!” 

"Hey now!" Paige protested. "You were being all creepy crawly on my bed! What did you think I would do; seeing you like that when I am half asleep, offer you tea?" She finished, crossing her arms in a huff.

 

I shook my head and got up onto my feet. "For your information I wasn't being a creepy crawly, whatever the hell that is. I was just getting my hair band that fell out of the box." I grabbed said hair band and held it up. “See!” 

Paige gave me a sheepish look. "Sorry"

I sighed and waved her off. “It’s ok, now I am going to go take a shower, see if some nice cold water on my face will stop the throbbing.” I walked over to my bed, pulled out some random clothes from the suitcase and headed towards the door. I opened the door and looked back at them. “I suggest, if you are done attacking me, to get dressed. We are going to have lunch and have some sort of Meet N Greet.” They moved themselves out of bed, and as I closed the door behind me, I heard Mack mumble to Paige, "What’s a creepy crawly?"

 

After I had showered and dressed, I examined my face in the mirror as I brushed out my curly hair. I was relieved to see that there was very little bruising. It looked like I just had some faint blue/purple shadows under my eye, like I was just exhausted. A little makeup made it disappear and spiffed up my appearance. 

I stepped out of the bathroom and found Mack and Paige sitting on the couch, fully clothed. They both looked at me with hang dog expressions and I shook my head. 

“Oh come on you two, it was just an accident. I shouldn't have tried to be stealthy with my approach to get a hair tie. Next time I will set off an air horn.” 

Mack smiled and stood up. “I just hate my neck being messed with, it makes my hair stand up one end.” 

Paige nodded. “And I hate people crawling near me, it just…” She shuddered a little. 

I smiled and stepped over to them patting their arms gently. “Well you guys know what makes my hair stand up on end, so no harm done.” When they kept staring at me, I rolled my eyes. "Well, I'm going to go eat because I am hungry. All that excitement you know.” 

I moved towards the door and they started following me. I opened the door and stepped out into the hall. There were a line of doors all down the hall that were slowly opening and their owners popping out into the hallway. One of the poppers, was Mari. When she came out of her room at the end of the hall, she looked right at us before heading down the stairs. Mack made a non-committal grunt next to me; I looked over at her. “What?” 

She shook her head. “Nothing.” 

I frowned at her, “Are you sure?” 

She nodded her head and pressed her lips together. I shrugged Getting something out of Mack was like pulling teeth, near impossible. I turned my attention to Paige who was trailing behind, her eyes on her phone in front of her. “What are you doing?” I asked her. She looked up at me and held up her phone so I could see an intricate details of a map. I blinked my eyes and took the phone from her. “Is that the blue prints to the school?” 

She nodded her head. “Someone is very interested in this school’s entrances and exits. I found it when I was sweeping email accounts.” 

I blinked my eyes, “Wait, you swept the email accounts?” 

She nodded her head. “How else am I going to find out things about people?” 

“Uh…asking is always a nice thing I always thought.”

She smirked at me. “Asking is for weenies. Plus my way is faster.” 

Before I could say anything to her, she increased her speed and went up by Mack. I huffed out a breath and walked faster to catch up to them as we went downstairs. 

“Look on the bright side,” I mumbled to myself. “At least we will have stuff to talk about while we eat.” 

 

When we finally got downstairs to the dining room, I was shocked that a school had an eating area like this. It was larger than normal, and it was two story seating instead of just one. It also had more of a restaurant feel, rather than a cafeteria. More couches, tables and chairs rather than bench seating. And of course, different sections had different colors to mark where each grade level sat.

After ogling for a few minutes, Mack gave me a little shove towards the buffet style set up. I grabbed a plate and followed behind. Several different sections had been set up with different food choices and in the center of it all, was an oval shaped salad bar. Paige ran right for the Chinese food with me right behind her. Mack veered off to head for the Mexican food. We met up at the Salad Bar to grab some fruit and then found a table with a blue table cloth. Once we had sat down, a waitress came over to leave us pitchers of Soda, Sweet Tea and Water. I poured myself a glass of tea, Mack grabbed the soda and Paige had tea as well. We started digging into our food and talking about what would happen at the assembly when Mari appeared next to us. She was biting her lip between her teeth. “Hey.” 

It took us a minute to recover, but then we said hey back. She bit her lip again and then smiled. “I just came over to say hi and I am sorry for what went down, I don't usually act like that. Something just came over me. I hope you can forgive me.” 

I didn't say anything, I just turned my eyes to Mack and waited for her to speak. She finally did, there was no smile. But her voice was pretty calm. “Well, I think we can accept your apology. I still don't feel comfortable rooming with you though.” 

Mari nodded her head. “I understand, but thanks for accepting my apology.” We watched her walk over to another table. She sat down with a guy with dark hair and dark eyes who turned his head and looked right at me, a weird smile creeping across his face. I frowned a little, something about that guy made my hair stand up. 

Paige shook me out of my thoughts by saying, “I am surprised you forgave her Mack. I took you more for the type that doesn't forgive anyone.”

Mack took a long drink of her soda before she said. “Well, I live by the quote ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies’ closer.” 

I was a little unsettled by her words, what did she mean enemy? Mari just cheated at a game, it was silly to think she was an…enemy. We knew who the enemies were. If we started turning on each other…

I jumped about a foot when a plate was dropped on the table next to me. I looked up to see Aiden sitting down with a plate full of food; there was pizza, egg rolls, pasta. It looked like he had swept every country set up in the buffet style cafeteria. I looked at him and rolled my eyes. “Ok, this is just too much.” 

He looked at me confused as he set down a bottle of something. He grabbed a coffee cup and opened the bottle. “What?” 

I gestured to his plate with my fork. “Your food! You are a vampire, you don't eat normal food, you…..do something else.” 

He huffed softly. “I actually, CAN eat human food. I don't have to eat, but sometimes it’s nice to sit with people and eat a little something. Well with SOME people.” He shot me a pointed look and then poured the contents of the bottle into the coffee cup. It was red and gooey and my stomach twisted a little. “Um, what is that?” I asked in a shaky voice. 

He looked at me, smiling a brilliant smile. “Something that is an important part of my diet.” 

I was slow on the uptake, well not really. But Mack reacted faster than I did and started laughing. “Oh my god Vampy. You drink it out of a coffee cup! You take cream and sugar with that blood or just…red?” 

Aiden shot her a dark look and drank his…drink. I dug into my food, trying not be perturbed by his drinking habits. He was a vampire after all. 

Paige was tapping on her cell phone and the frowned at it. “Huh, this is weird.” 

I scooted over closer to her and frowned. “What’s wrong?” 

She tapped the phone and used her fingers to make the text bigger so I could see. “It’s a text from a teacher in Eureka to a teacher here. Saying something about the Vampire activity being a little more noticeable than normal. The teacher here is saying that it’s not true, just a rumor. But still…” 

I frowned a little and looked over at Aiden. “Do you think it’s true?” 

Aiden took another drink out of his cup and shook his head. “I haven't noticed anything. And trust me, I would be the first.” He flicked his tongue across his lips to catch a trace of red on it. “I would be more concerned with Paige’s criminal activities.” I shook my head again and was about to say something when the bell rang loudly in the cafeteria. Aiden stood up. “Leave your stuff where it is. It’s time for the meeting of the Council.” 

There was that Council again. I followed Aiden out of the cafeteria and down the stairs with the rest of the bodies. We went down to what should have been a basement, but instead opened into a large auditorium. It looked like a movie theater, with tiered seating and a large floor space in front of the seating where a group of seven people sat in chairs. Once we were all seated (and we barely filled the large 400+ seats). A woman from the group of seven stood up and walked to the podium that was sitting in front of them. 

She tapped the microphone and smiled. “Good afternoon. I am glad to see everyone arrived safely and I hope your lunch was good.” 

Everyone murmured agreement at the woman and she smiled more. ‘To start things off, my name is Kendra. My job on the Council is all things school related. You could call me a principal, but it goes beyond that. I am in charge of making sure everything runs smoothly. I also deal with some of the financial things pertaining to school. So if you need anything, you can always swing by my office and talk to me.” 

Paige leaned close to me and whispered in my ear. “She is the one that was exchanging emails with the other teacher in Eureka.” I blinked my eyes and looked at the woman as she continued to talk. Someone from the mainland had emailed her with worries. Huh. 

“It’s probably just a Dhampir thing.” I muttered back to Paige. 

Kendra smiled. “And now I would like to introduce Steven, Diana and Dudley. They are responsible for finding you.” 

The council meeting drug on for almost 2 hours. They got very in-depth to the various things that each council member did. Afterward, they answered questions. I was surprised that a lot of the kids had questions, I even had a few regarding how they tracked heritages and what it entailed as I was curious about my own, since everyone had been pretty vague about that subject. But after my 3rd question, Diana suggested I make an appointment with her. I was about to protest, but Mack mashed her foot into mine which really hurt because she was putting her Dhampir strength behind it. I glared over at her, but took the hint and shut up. 

Once we were dismissed from the meeting, we were directed out the side door that led upstairs. As we moved through the hallway, a hand touched the back of my neck. I turned to see Aiden, I shifted my body a little which made me bump into Mack. She turned to look at me and then rolled her eyes. “Your-”

I growled softly. “I know! My stalker is here.” She chuckled warmly and ascended the staircase quickly. I followed behind her and once I got to the top, I stood next to her to wait for Paige and (apparently) Aiden. As we did, Sammy appeared around the corner. “Hey!” 

Mack looked at him and frowned. “Sammy, where did you come from?” 

He shrugged. “I was at the meeting too. My dad was the one that was on the Financial Team.” 

I frowned too. “I thought he was the Defense Training Coach or whatever.”

Sammy smiled, “He is, but he does that too.” 

Mack looked at him intently. “Are going to be one of those spoiled brats that have the run of the school because Daddy is an important person?” 

Sammy just grinned at her as Paige and Aiden walked up. “Well, no to the run of the school, as for the spoiled brat part that is up for debate, it depends on who you ask.” He winked at us.   
“But why I stopped you guys was because I have a Play Station 3 and Black Ops if you are interested.” 

Mack stared at him for a few seconds and then smiled, and I noticed, it was a very sly smile. “Sureee, bring your Black Ops.” 

He smiled back at her, “Have you played?” 

A look of complete innocence went across her face and she said. “I don't think so.” 

Sammy’s grin widened. “Then I will be right back.” 

As he ran off, I looked at Mack and started to say something, but she covered my mouth with her hand. “Nope. You saw nothing.” 

I nodded my head and we started walking back. 

 

Once we got back to the dorm room, Paige yawned. “Well I am going to change and then give the computer in the back a test run.” 

I sighed heavily. “What kind of test run?” 

She grinned at me, “Oh, you know, see how far I can push it before it explodes.” 

I started to protest but shook my head. Mack sat down on the couch and flipped the TV on. “I am going to wait for Sammy. When he gets here, he will receive his ass whooping and then when he leaves to lick his wounds, I am going to go to bed.” She lifted her voice. “So that mess from the explosion better be cleaned up.”

Paige laughed and poked her head out as she pulled on her sleep shirt. “No promises.” I rolled my eyes and walked back to our room and grabbed my pajamas. I tugged them on as Paige went to one of the computers in the back and flicked it on. I rummaged around in my box and pulled out my laptop. She turned to look at me. “What evilness are you going to get up to?” 

I smiled at her. “I'm going to Skype with my Mama.” 

She smiled at me and went back to her computer. I walked back out to the sitting room, just as there was a knock on the door. Mack jumped up and ran to the door. When she started to speak, her voice was dripping with innocence. “Thanks for coming and showing me how to play this game, I really don't know a thing about it.” Good God, she had even bumped up her accent to make it deeper. I had to hide my laughter as I drug the coffee table around the back of the couch, Sammy set the Play Station 3 on the end table next to the TV and hooked it all up. 

I sat down on the floor I heard the opening noises to the game, I peeked over and saw the words dancing across the screen until it got to words: Activision Presents. Sammy started explaining the game to Mack and she kept looking at him with perfect innocence. I logged into Skype and clicked on Mama’s name. The little trilling noise happened for a few seconds and then there was beep and Mama’s face appeared. Her smile filled the screen. “Amaia!” 

I smiled back. “Hey Mama!” 

She shifted the camera so she could sit down. “How are you?” 

I sighed softly listening to the loud gun shots that started firing. “Good so far.” I filled Mama in on everything that had been going on, skimming over the part on the train where we got in trouble. Her dark eyes stayed on mine, her smile stayed sweet. “Sounds like you have had a good time so far.” 

I nodded. “My roomies are pretty nice. Paige is a…computer expert. I swear. She knows everything, Mack is pretty nice and she gets along well with everyone we have met so far.” 

A sudden yell and blast of gun fire exploded over my head and Mama’s eyes popped opened. “Did you go to a war zone and not tell me?” 

I shook my head. “No Mack and Sammy are playing Black Ops.” 

She smiled again, “Who is winning?” 

I peered over the couch just in time to see Sammy give Mack a little shove. In a flash, she reached out and shoved him right back. He let out a yell and fell to the ground where she tackled him. I looked back at Mama. “Well, I'm not sure who is winning the game, but it looks like Mack is winning at something.” 

Mama chuckled. “How are your classes?”

I winced when I heard a loud hit to someone and a grunt of pain. “Oh uh, classes won't start until Monday. Because of the fact we came in so late.” 

She nodded her head. “Well I will be there probably sometime next month. I just have to wrap up a few things here and I should be there.” 

I smiled. “Did you find a house here? How is Elizabeth and Grandmother?” 

“They are all fine and yes I found a house, it’s not too far from the school so I expect visits often. Elizabeth is fine, she and Mother are getting ready to take off for somewhere.” 

I nodded my head, I wanted to ask where they were going but I knew better. “How are things at the house?” 

She smiled. “Well, I have rented out your room, so I have quite the sizeable income at the moment.” 

I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Please Mama, I know better than that.” 

There was a sudden thump and the couch tilted towards me. I yelped loudly. “Mama I gotta go!” I closed the laptop and jumped back just in case the couch decided to topple over. I looked over the top of it and blew out a breath. “GUYS! Come on! You almost rolled the couch on top of me!” 

Mack looked up at me. “Sorry, we were having a discussion. But we are on the right track now.” 

I snickered a little. “Is uh, that bruise on Sammy’s face the establishing point?” 

Mack winced as she looked back down at Sammy. "Um, not really. He banged in to the table really hard."

He groaned softly, pushed her off and stood up. “Can I use your bathroom?” 

I pointed to the door and was about to say something to Mack when there was a loud snap behind me. I groaned softly. “Paige?”

The door slid opened and Paige smiled at me, her hair was standing up on end a little. “Wow, that computer is a hacker’s dream!” 

I groaned again. “Oh man, this is too much for me.” I stalked past Paige into the bedroom and yanked my comforter off of the bed. I marched past the girls and grabbed my laptop. “I am going to go sit in the hall and finish my conversation.” I told them firmly. Not waiting for an answer, I stomped over to the door and went out of it. I sat down, wrapped the comforter around me and pressed my back against the wall. I lifted up the laptop screen and dialed my Mama’s Skype again. She came right on, her brown eyes worried. “Baby are you ok?” 

I nodded. “Yeah Mama, I'm ok. Mack and Sammy were messing around and the couch almost fell on me. Paige tried to electrocute herself, so I'm sitting in the hall talking to you.” 

She smiled in relief. “Oh that is good. Well, I am glad you have such interesting new friends.” 

I nodded. “They are ok, when they are not trying to kill me.” 

She laughed and I did too. We chatted for a few more minutes and then she sighed. “Baby I gotta go. I have a few more things to do before I go to bed.” 

I sighed and nodded. “Ok I love you.” 

She smiled and kissed her fingers and tapped the screen. “I love you too.” 

I clicked off and rubbed my face. It was hard to be away from her. The door opened and Paige appeared. “Hey, we are going to play Just Dance. Mack and Sammy figure they won't get as physical playing it. Plus more fun when more people play.” 

I smiled a little and nodded. I stood up, grabbed up my blanket and laptop. Paige patted my arm gently. “Sorry about earlier.” 

I smiled at her. “It’s ok, I was just upset since the couch almost squashed me.” 

She smiled again. “Well, next time you can come watch me blow stuff up.” 

I shook my head. “Thanks all the same, but I like having eyebrows.” 

She laughed and grabbed my arm, dragging me inside. Mack had pushed the couch back and Sammy was pressing a washcloth to his bruised eye. “Ah! There is our girl. Come on Mai, you can choose the first song.” 

I walked over to where they were standing and grabbed the controller. I moved the little icon down to Party in the USA and pressed the button. 

The game processed how many people were there and then clicked to the song. Four figures stood in front of us in position. The music started in a quick beat and we followed the movements. I couldn't help but sing along with the words, and when it got to the chorus, I really let loose. 

“So I put my hands up! Their playing my song and the butterflies fly away! I'm nodding my head like yeah! I'm moving my hips like yeah!” 

Paige jumped next to me. “I got my hands up, their playing my song! I know it’s gonna be ok! Yeah its party in the USA! Party in the USA!” 

We all started laughing now and ended up collapsing on the floor, laughing so hard we could barely breathe. And for the first time, since I had started this little adventure, I was glad I had come. I was glad to be there with my friends.


	7. Chapter 7

I was going to die, I could see the writing on the wall. Death was coming for me. Or at least the personification of death. In the form of my Math Teacher. ‘Cause this course was going to kill me, with her scratchy voice and mandatory 2 hours of homework every night. Miss Hilbert looked about 150 years old. She wasn't really that old because she was wonderfully human. And completely unaware that the students she taught were Vampire hybrids. 

“And be sure you take good notes, you never know when I am going to spring a pop quiz on you.” She said, glaring at us over her half glasses. 

Mack sat next to me, an almost angelic look on her face as her pen scratched across the paper, no doubt taking perfect notes. Mack must really like Math, to be able to listen to that old bat and not want to barf on the floor. 

Then I noticed, that her pen was almost erratic in her writing. Pretty close to dancing. I leaned over to see what in the world she was writing that was so fascinating and had to clap my hands over my mouth to stifle a giggle that wanted to pop out. She had drawn Miss Hilbert as a dragon, but instead of shooting out flames, the Dragon was spitting out what I could only assume were flying math books. Mack had drawn a small figure in front of the dragon with a sword drawn in front of the dragon with a shield. It was beautiful, I could only stare at such a master piece. 

“Amaia Abbott!” 

I jumped about a foot when Miss Hilbert yelled my name. I jerked my head around and blinked. “Yes, Miss Hilbert?” 

She walked over, her lips pressed together like she had sucked a lemon and then chased it down with pickle. “I just wondered what you found so interesting over here.” 

I blinked my eyes. “Oh, nothing Miss Hilbert, I was just-” Her hand jerked out suddenly, sharp and fast like a snake striking. She grabbed the paper in front of Mack and smirked at us. “SO! Let us see what is distracting Miss Abbott and Miss Jordan here.” 

She flicked the paper opened, a superior look on her face as she started to read. “Divide the circumference by the diameter, multiply by 4.” She stopped at the giggles from the room and jerked her gaze to Mack and myself, then to the room. “Stop that!” She slapped the paper with her finger. “Miss Jordan is this some sort of joke?” 

Mack blinked her dark eyes. “No ma’am, it’s my Math notes. No doubt you will find them serviceable.”

She sucked her lips together again with a snap and dropped the paper onto our shared desk. “I will tell you Miss Jordan that I plan to keep a heavy eye on you for the duration you are in this class. I hope we understand each other.” 

Mack smiled politely, but there was a sharp point to it. “Perfectly so ma’am.”   
She puckered her lips again, making them almost disappear and turned on her heel. Once her back was turned, Mack stuck out her tongue. That just did me in and I started giggling. 

Miss Hilbert turned around and looked at me, I clamped my lips shut to shut the giggles off. She looked at Mack who shrugged. “No idea what is wrong with her.” 

A faint red blush crept along the teacher’s face and she turned her heel and stomped to the front of the room. I just buried my face into my arms and laughed. 

 

After Math was over, I had English with Paige. Mack was in a lower set English class than Paige and I were, so she was elsewhere. Then it was off to Science. Somehow, even though I hated Science with a deep passion, I landed in upper level one. It was good Mack was my partner, because when the teacher spoke of mixing chemicals, I could envision the imminent explosion that would happen if I was by myself. 

Once we finished Science, we headed off to lunch. The buffet itself was not opened, but they had two sections opened. One section had a Build-Your-Own-Sandwich station, and the other part had standard lunch fare lined up that you could pick and choose. The salad bar was also set up. I opted for getting a sandwich, along with some fruit and vegetable pieces from the salad bar. Paige and Mack got in line to grab some stuff from the lunch offerings.

I was finished first, so I took my plate of food and went to a table. Once I sat down, a cafeteria worker appeared with the drink pitchers. I had to shake my head at all the efficiency around here. I did a quick sweep of the room as I speared a cucumber with my fork. I spotted Mari, once again sitting with the creepy guy. They were with other people though, so he didn't seem as creepy. Still. I looked over at the food area and saw Mack and Paige heading my way, I also spied Aiden coming out of the kitchen with a familiar cup in his hand. So that is where he kept it. I was about to raise my hand, gesture him over to the table when a small figure stepped in front of him. I knew her from my English class, I couldn't remember her name, but she sat in front of Paige and had a high pitched giggle. What was she doing in the kitchen anyway? I curled my fingers tighter around my fork, zeroed in on the idiot who was keeping Aiden’s attention. How was she doing that? Probably that annoying hair flip thing she had going on. What a little-

“Whoa! Amaia! Stop killing your fork!” 

I jerked my gaze away from Aiden and the idiot to Mack who was standing next to me with her tray, her gaze on my hand. I followed her gaze and gasped, the fork I had been eating my fruit and veggies with had been bent to an unnatural angle. The top of the fork was almost touching the bottom. I set it down very carefully as Mack sat as well. “I am surprised you didn't snap it in half.” Paige picked it up to look it over. 

I shook my head. “Well that is super embarrassing.” I muttered to myself. 

Mack shook her head as she took the mangled fork from Paige. “Actually, I think it’s really cool.”

I blinked in disbelief at her. “Cool? It’s not cool it’s…annoying. This is the like the third thing I have broken.” 

Mack shrugged. “I don't know, probably because you seem to channel better than the rest of us. I know before I came, nothing was really safe around me. Chairs, couches, priceless family heirlooms.” She shrugged again. “And I know other Dhampirs that have the same problem. But you, you just…channel. It’s very interesting.” 

I smirked a little, “Maybe it just means I have more anger than other Dhampirs.” 

Paige giggled. “Oh, yes Amaia, you are one hot mess.” 

“Can't agree with that. She is not a hot mess so much as a whirling dervish.” 

Mack looked up at Aiden and rolled her eyes. “Hey old man, what the hell is a whirling dervish?” 

He shrugged. “Not sure, but it’s a nice thought isn't it?

He sat down next to me and took a sip of his drink. He frowned and reached out his long fingers to the mangled fork. “Wow, someone get the license plate of the truck that took this poor guy out.” 

Paige smiled and pointed towards me. “She would be the truck.” 

Aiden looked at me and tugged one of my curls playfully. “Something the fork said?” 

I shook my head. “No, just thinking of something else.” I tried to say it casually, but it came out through my teeth. I took a bite of my sandwich and then looked at him. “Have a good conversation.” 

I caught Mack going into a smirk, but she ducked her head before it fully appeared. Aiden raised his eyebrows at me and shook his head. “Conversation I don't-Oh! You mean Taylor.” He shrugged and sipped from his cup. “Not really, she is annoying as all get out.” His green eyes sparkled. “Why, you jealous?”

I sucked in a breath and slammed my hand down on the table. There was a crunch as the table leg gave out from and tilted at an odd angle. I moved up from the table as the three of them stared at me. “Not in the slightest.” I turned my heel and it took everything I had in me not to run from the cafeteria to the bathroom where I spent the rest of lunch hiding out. 

 

  
I got through my first afternoon class, which was Dhampirs in American History with an attentive appearance. I took notes, asked questions and tried my hardest to keep it together. I ignored Paige’s questioning looks at my back, I ignored the fear in the pit of my stomach over the fact that I had broken 2 things in the span of five minutes. I just tried to keep my head on straight, get through class and not injure something else. 

My next class was Vampires: History & Facts. I had a feeling that I was going to be learning stuff I already knew. But oh well, I was alone so no one was going to be staring at me. 

I walked into the class, sat down at a desk and took a long, deep breath. I finally relaxed after the last 2 hours of staying tense. 

A young man walked into the classroom, carrying a briefcase. “Good afternoon, I am Mr. Connors. I am going to be your teacher for this class. It’s going to run a little longer than a normal class, only because we are learning two important things, Vampire History, along with important facts about them.” He turned and I heard a collective gasp as his green eyes were revealed. “You might say I am a bit of an expert on Vampires. Now that I have climbed off my soap box, let’s get started." 

Mr. Connors walked around to the front of the desk and leaned on it. "We are going to start off easy. Tell me what you know about vampires."

A blonde guy raised his hand. "They drink blood." 

"Alright, that's a common known fact. What else class?" Mr. Connors asked as he looked around the room at all the raised hands. "You know what, let me write the list on the board so we won't repeat any." He walked over to the white board behind the desk. "Now let's hear them. Don't worry about raising your hand, just calmly call out a fact." Everyone started to call out facts as they knew them. Mr. Connors wrote as fast as anyone could speak. 5 minutes later he had a long list of Vampire Facts: 

1) Drinks blood.

2) Stronger

3) Faster

5) Can't be in sunlight

6) Is dead. No heart beat

7) Lives forever

8) Can change humans

9) Scared of cross

10) Turns to ash when killed

11) Killed by stake through heart

"So, everyone agrees with this list? Nothing else to add? OK, good.” Mr. Connors turned back to us and smiled, “Now what would you say if I told you only four on this list are facts?" He turned back to the white board and picked up an eraser and erased answers 5, 6, 7, 9, 10. "Surprised?" he asked as he smiled at us. “Now it's time to get to the truth about vampires. But before we do, how about a little campfire tale?” He sat down on his desk and pulled out a fat book. “I am going to tell you the legend of Pharaoh Amun.” He looked at us again and began to read. 

Pharaoh Amun who ruled all of Egypt with his Queen Consort, Kalila. The land grew and prospered as Amun led his people; war and famines were slowly forgotten as food and peace were plentiful for all. Happiness filled the land as everyone believed this good fortune would continue.

But soon a dark cloud covered the land, the people and the Pharaoh. 

It began an early Spring morning. The Pharaoh was seated in the throne room accepting Merchants as they entered to tote their wares. Two women were allowed in and presented the Pharaoh with a gift of an empty basket. It is said one of the women told him that it was a basket to place his dreams for they would come to naught. Enraged, the Pharaoh ordered the two women to death by drowning in the Nile. As the women were taken to the Nile, they cursed the Pharaoh and his queen on their last breath that he forever be haunted and never again know peace. And when they were tossed into the river it has been documented that they uttered: He Shall Walk Eternally. Five minutes after the women were tossed into the Nile, a Solar Eclipse engulfed the land. 

Several days later, the Pharaoh was awakened by screams. Kalila was brought before him, shaking and covered in bruises. She claimed that there had been nothing or anyone in the room when it happened. She had been deeply sleeping when something had just attacked her. 

The Pharaoh did not believe his wife and instead ordered more Guards. Soon more injuries that could not be explained occurred, and the servants, as well as the Queen began to see people that would appear and disappear at will.

The Pharaoh asked Advisors, Priests and the High Priestess to help; they gave potions, blessed cloths, amulets and stones, all that could be thought of, but nothing helped and the spirit slowly grew stronger and more dangerous. 

One day, Kalila came to the Pharaoh and told him that she was with child. The Pharaoh was terrified for his child, if the spirit to could harm Kalila, what would it do to the unborn child? He decided that the only thing left to do was protect Kalila and his child at any cost. He demanded a great room be built in the palace. The room was to be made of walls that were 5 inches thick and a door that would only bolt from the inside. No one would be allowed to enter or exit; food would be pushed through a small slot at the bottom of the door and waste would be removed through a small slot in the wall. That night, by the darkness of the new Moon, The Pharaoh, the Queen and the Queen’s trusted Maid, Berenice made their way into the room and what Amun hoped was safety. 

Locked in the room with no news of the outside world and no one to keep the country in check, turmoil began to grow. People began to starve as a famine swept the land, animals died from lack of food and water, disease began to grow. And the turmoil left unchecked became anger as the curse spread to the people. 

Several months later, late one night, Kalila began to labor. Berenice tried to get help from the guards that were supposed to be outside the door, but due to disease and lack of food, most had abandoned their post. Berenice begged the Pharaoh to allow her to leave to help her lady; and with great reluctance, he granted her request. As Berenice raced to find supplies and help, a group of Dessert Bandits entered the Palace intent on stealing the riches within. The screams of Kalila brought them to the hidden room where they attacked the Pharaoh and then Kalila. After robbing what little they could find, the Bandits left the room. Pharaoh hoped that death would come quickly for himself and his wife which would at last satisfy the curse. But the Spirit had one final pain to inflict. 

As the Pharaoh’s heart stopped, the spirit entered his body and reanimated his corpse. His body began to change as he became something that had always been greatly feared and hated, an Eternal Walker, a Vampire. He knew though, that his cursed blood had healing capabilities, he crawled over to Kalila pressed a bleeding wrist against her lips but it was too late for his beloved. Anger surged through him as he stood his thoughts of loss twisting until anger and vengeance was all he knew. Grabbing a chair, he threw it through the stone wall and went out into the night intent on enacting revenge for his wife. 

When Berenice entered the room several minutes later and found her lady dead. She burst into tears. She knew it was custom to cover her lady with a death shroud and pray over her until the mummification process could begin, and as Berenice moved to her lady, she saw her stomach move. Realizing the baby lived; Berenice grabbed a dagger from the table and whispering a small prayer, cut her Lady open and pulled the baby out. Wrapping him in a cloth she ran from the palace to find the Pharaoh. 

Several days later, Pharaoh Amun once again took the throne and led his people back to prosperity. 

Amun ruled for almost 20 years leading the country back to its former glory (and hunting the men down that killed his beloved) before stepping down to allow his son, Ka to take the throne. Soon after it is said, Amun disappeared into obscurity and soon his name was just legend.   
But the reality was that Amun was a Vampire and in his heart a King. With Egypt no longer under his rule, he wanted to amass people to control and to make them fear him. So he began to travel the world creating Vampires.

There was dead silence after his little story. I think you could have heard a pin drop, I know I wasn't breathing at all. He shut the book with a snap that made me jump and then smiled. “Well, any questions?” 

I think if any of us had any sense, we would have just kept our mouths shut. But one blonde haired guy raised his hand. “How can Vampires be alive? Everyone knows that Vampires are dead as doornails and anyone they turn is killed by doing so.” 

Mr. Connor’s chuckled. “Well first of all, Vampires of Lore are considered Undead, not dead.” Everyone giggled. “And second of all, who trusts the ravings of a drunk Irishman? He was trying to sell a novel for Pete’s sake. No one took Mary Shelly seriously when she came out with a book about a giant dead guy who was reanimated by a mad scientist. In fact, people didn't really take it seriously until Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder put their fingers in that pie.” 

The whole class, including me laughed at that one. Mr. Connors smiled at us and kept going. “The point is, we can't take things at face value and preach it as gospel, figure things out yourselves. And to help with that, please pull the dictionary from the basket under your chair and look up the word Torpor. Once you have all looked it up, everyone raise your hand to let me know you have found it.” 

I reached under my chair and pulled out the dictionary and flipped to the T’s. It took me a few minutes to find Torpor and once I read the definition, I put my hand in the air. After a few minutes, all the kids had their hands in the air. 

Mr. Connors smiled. “Alright, so now that you have read up on it, let’s hear what it means.” He looked at his seating chart and pointed at me. “Amaia Abbott, why don't you tell us what the word Torpor means.” 

I cleared my throat and looked down at my dictionary. “Torpor, a noun. A state of lowered physiological activity typically characterized by reduced metabolism, heart rate, respiration, and body temperature that occurs in varying degrees especially in hibernating and estivating animals.” 

He smiles at me. “Thank you Amaia.” He turned and wrote Torpor on the white board. “Now then, according to what Amaia just read us, creatures are able to go into a state that is as close to death as possible, but still are very much alive. Now, imagine if you will, having this state not for a few days or weeks, but years.” 

A voice, deep and rusty came from the back. “But after a while, wouldn't the body start to slow down and break down?” 

I turned to see who was speaking and my jaw dropped opened when I saw it was Mari’s creepy guy. I had not even noticed he was in the class, he was stealthy. 

Mr. Connor’s nodded. “Yes, it would eventually….” He looked at his seating chart again. “Damien. But, think about it, when you are feeling run down from being ill, what does the doctor suggest you get to make you a bit stronger?”

The silence filled the room as people thought. When no one answered, Mr. Connors turned back to the white board and wrote out: Blood Transfusion. 

A few people gasped in the room, but I stayed pretty calm I am proud to say. Mr. Connors turned to us. “This is the reason why Vampires are able to stay up and moving. By ingesting daily amounts of blood, they are able to keep upward and mobile. Because if different levels, which we will talk about another day, different Vampires need different amounts daily.  
Dhampirs, while not needing full on blood, do need to eat rare meat once or twice a week. Some are able to drag it out a little longer, but they become moody, lethargic and depressed.” 

One of the guys next to me muttered something about a woman and her period. Mr. Connors quirked an eyebrow. “I am sure this is the first time anyone has heard of a woman becoming upset over blood needing to go in, not come out.” A few people laughed, but I just blushed a little bit. A few people just stared, probably shocked that Mr. Connors had heard what guy had said that far away. 

The rest of class moved pretty fast after that. Mr. Connors spent the rest of the period talking about what he had planned for the rest of the year and what we were going to be studying. It was exciting to hear that we were going to be learning about Vampires and looking at them in a whole new way. 

I was in a much better mood and more relaxed when he excused us. As I walked out, I felt a person fall into step with me. I gave a quick glance and sighed heavily. “I thought you had work to do today.” 

Aiden chuckled warmly. “Well, I figure since we are going to the same place, I could do you the courtesy of walking with you.” 

I sighed heavily and shifted my backpack. “I don't need an escort, I am quite fine.” 

He looked at him with mirror green eyes. “Yeah, I am sure you are fine Amaia, but what is with you being anti-friend? You ran off at lunch and ignored Paige through Vampire History. I mean, if you were upset, you could have just said so.” 

I stopped dead in my tracks and the person behind me almost slammed into my back. “Upset? UPSET? I mangled a fork and broke a table leg! Upset is like comparing Pompeii’s ruin from Mount Vesuvius against a tree falling over in your backyard. Upset doesn't even begin to cover how I am feeling over that.” 

He growled under his breath and drug me across the hall to another hallway that was empty. I yanked my arm away and started to yell at him, but he covered my mouth. “It might occur to you my dear Miss Abbott, that you are not the center of the universe. You have friends that are willing to help you. 

I rolled my eyes a little. “You would be willing to help me? Really? Before or after you put your tongue down Taylor’s throat?” 

Aiden’s eyes flashed with anger but his voice was calm when he spoke. “Trust me.” He almost purred. “You would get apt attention before I moved on to Taylor.” 

I sucked in a breath, saw red and slammed my foot against his knee before I could think better of it. I expected it to hurt me, I expected him to just look at me, to figure out why I was hopping around in pain. Instead, he yelped in pain and leaned down to rub his leg. He shot a glare at me that also held surprise in his face. “That hurt!” 

I couldn't hide the shock in my voice even to my own ears when I spit out the words. “Well next time, don't man handle me!” 

I turned my heel and stomped down the hall to the last class which was Dhampir Physical Training. It took me a minute to find the large double doors that led into the class and when I finally did, I noticed Mack leaning against the wall, her cap of dark hair shining against the light. I sighed softly and moved towards the door, trying to ignore her. When I got close enough, she stuck out her arm. “We need to talk.” 

I sighed softly. “We are going to be late.” 

She shook her head. “Nah, the Purples are still in there, I checked. Sammy said he would come out and give us a heads up when they are almost done.” She leaned back against the wall, just looking at me. “So, I think lunch took a few years off my life.” 

I blinked a little. “Off your life? I was a bit freaked out myself.” 

She nodded. “I figured you were. Although, I have to admit, I was half expecting you to toss your water in Aiden’s face rather than take down the table.” 

“I really don't know what happened with that.” 

She nodded. “As I said at lunch, you have more control than most Dhampirs, I think that makes you a little stronger.” She held up her hands. “But I don't see that as a bad thing. We all break things, it’s the way of the world. You shouldn't have went and hid in the bathroom because you broke a table. You had a major girlie moment in my opinion.” 

I winced at that. “You know, I always prided myself in myself in not having female hysterics. I always figured if I did such a thing, I would have to kick my own ass.” 

She smirked a little. “Well considering we are getting ready to go into a class where ass kicking is mandatory, I think you can cut yourself a little slack.” I huffed out a laugh and she leaned against the wall again. 

“Look Mai, I am not going to try and sort out what is going on in your head. But I can tell you, no matter what, you are not alone. I am not one for mushy moments, but, what happened was not a big deal. And we don't look at you any differently than we did this morning. You're still a weirdo. But, we all are!” 

I laughed at that one and she patted my arm. “So promise me, no more drama. I am not a drama fan.” 

I smiled at her and nodded. “I swear, no more drama.” 

She patted my arm. “Good, because killing you does not really touch on the top of my list.” 

I laughed as Paige ran up panting a little. “Oh good, you guys haven't gone in yet.” 

Mack shook her head. “No the-”

Paige waved her hand. “It doesn't matter, look at this.” She flipped her tablet around so we could see the large article headline: 5 Ferry Staff Dead, 13 injured. I blinked my eyes and pulled it out of her hands to read it. 

“On September 22, at about 4:30 am, several members of the Eureka Ferry Staff were killed and many others injured by an unknown group of people. Police suspect gang activity and are looking into possible suspects. Victims were found at shift change from NOCs to Daytime. Conscious witnesses couldn't recall anything that happened. The dead were found with slit throats or broken necks.” I looked up at Paige. 

“So why are you showing this to us?”

She bit her lip. “I can't help remember what that email said between the teachers. Maybe this is more Vampire activity.” 

Mack snorted. “Yeah, ok Paige. Vampires are attacking the place we were just at. Why not attack the place we are at?” 

I looked at them. “Vampires can't swim. Sammy told us that remember? He said they lack the buoyancy to be able to do it. Probably due to the Torpor state they are in.” 

Mack rolled her eyes. “Even so, why in the world would they attack the Ferry workers? It’s not like they got promised a ride and then the deal was recanted.” 

Paige widened her eyes. “What if they were? What if it did?” 

The door banging opened made us all jump. Sammy poked his head out. “You guys might want to get to changing, the Purples are finally finishing up.” Mack smiled. “Thanks Sammy boy.”   
He rolled his eyes and shut the door. I clicked the tablet off and handed it back to Paige. “I think we are getting paranoid over nothing. Eureka police think it was Gang activity. I am inclined to agree.” 

Paige made a face of disbelief and Mack rolled her eyes. “You need to give that little Hacker brain a rest. You are getting paranoid.” Mack turned on her heel and opened the double door. I looked at Paige and shrugged. She sighed softly and shoved the tablet in her backpack and started walking behind me. 

I pushed opened the double doors and blinked my eyes. The gym was huge, it was bigger than anything I had ever seen. It was a two story area, with a cat-walk around the gym part of it. There was a set of doors that led to a locker room and another door that looked like it led into a classroom. Down on the floor, two little girls were doing flips and tumbles while a tall man with close cropped dark hair and hawk like brown eyes watched them. I leaned against the railing by the ramp that led down to the gym floor and watched the girls. One looked to be about 13, the other looked about 9. I looked over at Sammy, who was leaning next to me. “Your dad?” 

He nodded his head. “And my sisters, that one is Hayden.” He pointed to the 13 year old that was standing with her hands on her hips. “The other one is Annie.” He gestured to the 9 year old that was standing next to Baran. I looked at him. “Hayden for a girl?” 

He shrugged. “Mom got to name me, she let dad name the second, and she got the third. If she ever has another one, I am sure she would let dad name that one. We would probably have another boy with a name like Juliet or something.” 

I laughed and shook my head. “I doubt your mom would let that happen.” 

He grinned at me. “Well its sorta surprising that my mom had more, let alone girls.” 

I looked over at him as Hayden launched herself into a flip. But she hit the bouncy floor too hard and landed on her butt. “Ouch. Why is that?” 

He shrugged. “Well because on my dad’s side, there has only been one male born. So my dad was an only child, he figured I would be too. And then my mom surprised him with two more pregnancies and girls at that.” 

I looked over at him. “Wonder why that is.” 

He shrugged. “No one knows. Guess it’s just the way some of us are.” 

A sudden shriek of the whistled sounded and a voice boomed over to us. “Ok love birds, get your asses in the locker room and changed up. Anyone not ready in the next 5 minutes is going to be running laps until you throw up! MOVE IT!” 

I looked at Sammy who just shrugged. “See ya!” 

I ran into the locker room, found my locker (it had my name on it) and pulled out the gray yoga pants, white t-shirt and gray hoodie. There was also soft material gray sneakers. I pulled everything on and ran out of the locker room. Everyone was down on the floor, so I ran down the ramp and sat down on the floor next to Mack. Paige was also down on the floor, along with Mari. A few other kids were sitting that I had seen throughout the day. Baran stood in front of us with his hands on his hips. “So. I want to start off by saying I am Baran Cole. I am to be called Baran, not Mr. Cole. I also want to say that I doubt half of you will be back next week. Most of the time, the kids enter this class, spend a few days with me and then decide to demote down to the easier class. They say I am too tough. And I am. I expect you to be in this class and work. You are going to work until you are lying on the ground begging for death. Death will not come here, he is too afraid of me. Sam!” 

Sammy walked in front of his dad. “Yes sir.” 

Baran smirked. “Drop and give me 100.” Sammy dropped into the push up position and started moving up and down. Baran climbed on top of his back and stood there as Sammy did his pushups. “As you can see, Sam is strong. I expect by the end of the school year for all of you to be just as strong. If not stronger.” He looked at us in turn and then hopped onto the floor. “There are 10 basic rules in my class that you will obey. And I will not hear any back talk from anyone.” 

He looked down at Sammy. “Arch Position.” Sammy nodded and got to his feet. He planted his feet onto the ground and then flipped backwards so his hands were opposite of his feet. He looked like a bridge. Baran stepped up and stood on his stomach abdomen area. 

At our shocked faces all he said was. “Rule 1: Never say you can't, because you will do it anyway. Rule 2: Never say I want to leave, because you will stay longer. Rule 3: Never complain, because I don't listen. Rule 4: Never argue, because you won't win. Rule 5: Never cry, it only encourages me. Rule 6: Never look like you are having fun, because I will stop whatever you are doing and make it un-fun pretty damn quick! Rule 7: Never fake an injury, because I am not happy when I have to fill out paperwork over a fake injury. Rule 8: Never lie or cheat on an exercise, because I will know and you will regret it. Rule 9: Never say it’s easy, because then I will make it hard.” 

He hopped off of Sammy and nudged him with his foot. “On your feet.” Sammy jumped up and he looked at us. “Rule 10 is: Never underestimate. The enemies you are going up against are not your friends. They are not going to be gentle or let you call a time out. You will die if you underestimate them even for a minute.” He looked at us and then turned to Aiden. “I am sure most of you have seen Aiden around. He is going to be helping me with this class. What better way to learn how to defend yourself than go up against the enemy.” He looked at us and then drew back his fist as if to punch Aiden. Aiden brought his hand up and grabbed Baran’s wrist to stop him. Baran smirked. “See, that is how you do that.” 

He looked at us again. “I would like to let you know that my family has been teaching Vampire Defense for…well longer than I can remember. Vampire Defense has been established as a combination of Gymnastics, Tai Chi, and MMA.” 

I guess we looked confused, I felt confused. So he pursued his lips and harrumphed. “Gymnastics teaches you how do lower attacks, such as rolling, tumbling, etc. It also helps you get back on your feet faster. Tai Chi teaches the hand to hand area. MMA just gives the extra oomph to the defense. We are also going to be training to use weapons. I expect everyone to become versed in using guns, knives, and cross bows.” 

Mack cleared her throat. “I thought that you couldn't kill vampires.”

Baran smirked. “You can't. However, you can slow them down. Platinum has been found to be a useful tool. So we make the bullets, arrows and knifes out of Platinum.” 

Mack smiled. “Do we get to test it on Vampire boy over there?” 

Everyone laughed and Baran shook his head. “Nope. He is the teacher too and its bad form to attack another teacher. Now, I am sure your other teachers went easy on you and let you enjoy a day of no homework or actual work in class. But since you infants dressed up so nicely for my class and all, let’s see what you all can do.” 

He blew his whistle, shrill and high. “Up on your feet. We are going to test your endurance, strength and speed.” 

He blew his whistle again and we all got to our feet. Sammy ran out on the bouncy floor and dropped cones down on the floor in various spots. “First up Infants is what is affectionately called Suicides. You will run to the first cone and run back here. Then you will run to the next cone and run back here. So on and so forth until you hit the last cone. At this moment, I just want to see how fast you can do it. Next time though, you will be timed and anyone that has not completed it in the time I have set up, you get to do it again. Ok first up, Sassy Mouth.” He pointed at Mack. “Start your running.” 

Mack did a pretty decent suicide run. Watching her do it, made it look easy. But she had an athletic background. Baran ordered Paige up next, followed by Mari and Damien (again, where did he come from). After a few more kids went, he looked at me. “And now we have come to the last, youngest and probably slowest. Miss Green Eyes, want to show off your skills as it were.” 

I shot him a dark look and almost stuck my tongue out. He held out his stopwatch. “On your mark, get set, go.” 

I took off running. The first cone seemed to loom up fast, as did the second, third and fourth. When I ran back to the group and stopped, I was barely tired. I actually bounced a little. “Was that good?” 

Baran glanced at his stopwatch and raised his eyebrows. He showed it to Aiden who looked at me and then the stopwatch. Aiden wrote something down and then looked at me. “It was fine.” 

I looked at Mack who just shrugged. I huffed out a breath and Baran smirked. “Relax Green Eyes, you were fine. Ok, now onto Jumping Jacks.” 

An hour later, we were allowed to limp back to our Dorm Rooms. I say limp because I had enough dignity not to crawl, although I was dying to. 

Once we made it to the room, I collapsed on the floor right inside the door. Mack crawled over me and made it as far as the couch and fell into it. Paige just curled up at my feet moaning. I lifted my head a little. “That man is going to kill us.” 

Mack moaned from the couch. “And then bury us in the field.” 

Paige just groaned softly. “I would welcome death at this moment. In fact, if either of you want to kill me. Please feel free.” 

I sighed. “I wish I could, but at the moment my hand couldn't even make a fist, let alone kill you.” 

Paige crawled up from my feet and laid down next me. “How are we going to live through that again? We have to go and do the same thing tomorrow.” 

I reached out and patted her head. “We will get stronger I hope. And maybe if we live, we can eventually lead a mutiny.” 

Mack groaned something into the cushions. “I can't hear you Mack.” 

She lifted her head. “I said, don't plan a mutiny. Plan something more diabolical. Like itching powder in the underpants.” 

I sighed softly. “I don't know about the rest of you, but I could get down with that.” 

There was a second of silence and Paige sighed. “Ok, we are all in agreement. Now in other news, I have to pee.” 

I looked over at her and then flopped my head down. “I am sure they can get a stain out of the carpet.” 

Mack snorted. “Hope that goes for furniture too.”


	8. Chapter 8

New York City/Tennessee 1933  
Elizabeth stepped out of the Plaza hotel lobby and walked down stairs. People stared at her as she walked by them holding a large crate in her arms. Most people had never seen a lady carrying a crate by herself, that was men’s work. To lift heavy things so women didn't have to. Elizabeth largely ignored the stares as she moved over to the black truck that was parked at the curb with the wood slats across the top. She set the crate on top of the others and leaned against the back fender to wipe her face with her handkerchief. Moving was hard work, but it was going to be well worth it to see the sweet green hills of Tennessee where she had been admitted to their University’s Law Program. 

Elizabeth tugged off her gloves to glance at the small watch on her wrist, Anthony should be along any minute and they could get this show on the road since she had loaded the last box. 

She sighed softly, looking around the busy street at the cars going by and people shouting. She hated to leave New York, she wanted nothing more than to stay; but she wanted to be educated and that meant going elsewhere. 

She had tried her hardest to get into NYU, but they had kept steering her where she didn't want to go, mostly the Arts side of things. Be a Teacher they said, a lady like you shouldn't try and be a Lawyer. Rotten work, be a nurse. Women shouldn't argue with men, they should be quiet and submission, sweet young ladies as it were. 

 

Elizabeth had to scoff at that one, the equal rights amendment for women had been passed almost 13 years ago; she could be a damn Lawyer if she wanted to be. The only thing stopping her was the fossils at the New York University. But that was ok, Tennessee would be a change from the city.

She looked up as a person cleared their throat. She smiled at Anthony who was holding a suitcase in his hand. “Traveling light are you?” 

He smirked at her and set his suitcase in the back of the truck amongst her crates. “Well, living at a boarding house, you really don't have much. And I figured since we are going to be living together, you would have most of the kitchen stuff. Being a girl and all.” 

His eyes sparkled with mirth as she pressed her lips together and shot him a glare. “You know, the last time you made a girl crack, I almost knocked your teeth out with a punch to the face.” 

He chuckled warmly. “Being a vampire, my teeth are in there pretty good. So shall we go? We have a long trip ahead of us you know.” 

She rolled her eyes and pulled the keys out of her purse. She blinked when he plucked them from her fingers. “Excuse me, what are you doing?” 

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Um getting into the truck so we can go. Unless you want to stand here.”

She frowned at him and took the keys back. “You are not driving. I am driving. It’s my truck.” 

He took the keys again. “Nope, my truck. I bought it.” 

“My truck, I gave you the money to buy it.” 

“My name is on the title, which makes it my truck.” 

She was not going to let this idiot drive her truck. She sucked in a breath and counted to ten. "Anthony, I'm not in the mood to argue with you. So, this is what I suggest. I drive while it's daylight then you can drive at night." She just stood there watching him. 

"I don't know..." Anthony started to say. 

She moved to stand right in front of him with barely any space between them. "You seem to think this is up for debate but let me dispute you of that idea. Give me the keys you asshole!” All of this is said in a low voice that sounded almost like a growl. 

Suddenly there was the sound of a throat being cleared. Both blink and turn toward the sound and see a policeman standing there. "Excuse, is there a problem here?"

Anthony took a step back as he turned to address the officer. Elizabeth took the opportunity to snatch the keys back then turn to the cop also. "I assure you Officer?" Anthony pauses.

"Officer Clipson." The cop replied.

"Well, as I was saying Officer Clipson there is no problem my sister and I were just having a slight disagreement on how to start our road trip but it's all worked out now sir."

The cop looked between us for a few before nodding. "Ok, well have a good trip Sir, Ma'am." then he started walking again.

Elizabeth snorts as she gets into the truck. "Sister? Really you couldn't come up with something better."

"At least I tried. I certainly didn't see you jumping to answer him." Anthony said as he got in the passenger seat and slammed the door. "You know there is actually a reason why I would like to drive till we get out of New York." 

"Oh, really what is the reason?" Elizabeth ask with as she puts the keys in. 

"Vampires would be less likely to attack if I was driving. Plus if we are attacked it is a given that my reflexes are faster than yours." Anthony says as he leans back and crosses his arms looking over at her.

"Why didn't you just say that to begin with?" Elizabeth leans back and pinches her nose and counts again.

"Because honestly I didn't think it would be that big a deal if I drove." Anthony says with no small amount of confusion.

"It's my truck. I should get to drive it. “Here Elizabeth lowers her hand and looks at Anthony. "Fine you can drive till we are out of New York. Though as soon as you stop I'm taking over." With that said Elizabeth gets out and walks around to passenger side.

"Thanks." Is all Anthony says in return as he gets in the driver’s seat. 

"Just remember all this could have been avoided if you had just told me.” Elizabeth says as she settles in. “It's going to be a long ride to Tennessee.” Is all she can think as they pull out.

 

The chiming of Skype shook me out of my reading and brought me back to real life. I set the journal down the bed and reached for my laptop on the end table. As I set the laptop on air tray, the journal flopped opened towards the end where there were jagged edges of pages that had been ripped out. I ran my thumb across them as I hit the connect button. Mama’s smiling face filled the screen. “Hey baby!” 

I smiled back at her. “Hey Mama! How are you?” 

“Oh just fine.” She said. “Just finishing up some stuff here and then heading out your way.” 

I squealed happily. “Really?” 

She nodded her head. “Yup, I have my plane ticket already and I fly out next Friday.” 

I frowned a little and shifted on the bed. “But why so soon? I thought you said next month. Remember, at the beginning of the week?” 

She shrugged. “Elizabeth asked me to speed up my process a little, and I figured she had a reason behind it. She is going to stop by today or tomorrow to give me some stuff, so I will ask her what is up then. 

“Well I am glad you are coming. I can't wait for you to meet the girls. And see the town.” 

She gave me a long look, her dark eyes zeroed in on my face. “How was your first week of school? You are behaving right? Nothing going on that I need to know about?” 

I shook my head. “I haven't had time. School is sucking in all my energies and with regards to school, let’s just say I am glad it is Saturday.” 

She laughed and shook her head. “Ok good. Keep it that way.” 

I said I would and we chatted for a few more minutes before she had to sign off. 

I turned off the laptop and flopped back on the bed. I picked up the journal again and gave it a few flips. Elizabeth’s life was fascinating to say the least. After meeting with Anthony, she had jotted down a few entries here and there about parties she had attended, time she had spent with Anthony, some of the training she had done, and school. Nothing serious had been written down until the move from New York to Tennessee. But those jagged edges in the journal, near the end were interesting. Had something happened between her and Anthony?

My thoughts were interrupted by the door swinging opened and Mack stepping in. “Oh good your up.” 

I sat up on the bed. “Yup, where have you been?” 

She walked over and sat down on the bed next to me. “I went and got some breakfast and then took a walk. I need to call my Aunt.” 

I leaned my head down on my knees. “Not your mom?”

Mack shook her head. “Nah, my parents don't like what they are and by default, what I am. My aunt is a Dhampir too and she has been the one that has really been helping me through this. But I was wondering if I could borrow your phone.” 

I handed her the phone. “I am surprised you don't have your own.” 

“I am going to get one probably today when we go to town.” 

“Wait, wait. Who is going to town?”

She looked at me as she clicked the phone on. “All of us. Sammy is going to give us a tour of the town, and I am going to get my cell phone.” 

I huffed out a breath. “It would have been nice to be asked instead of told you know.” 

She rolled her eyes and started tapping the buttons. “Fine, Amaia, would you like to go to town with Sammy, Paige and I? And probably Albino boy since he is your stalker.” 

I rolled my eyes heavenward. “Of course I will go.” 

“Good. Now shut up and let me talk to my Aunt Sue already.” 

I giggled and shook my head as Mack perched on my bed and talked to her Aunt. I flopped back and flipped the journal opened and ran my thumb against the ragged edges again. This meant something, but what I didn't know. I sighed softly, got off the bed and walked over to the walk-in closet to pull out some clothes. Leaving Mack to talk, I went out to the sitting room. Paige was sitting on the couch staring at the laptop in front of her. A woman’s face filled the screen, she looked a lot like my Mama, maybe lighter complexion but clearly Dhampir. “You swear you're not hacking Paige? You know that always leads to trouble.” 

I saw Paige cross her fingers where her mom couldn't see her hand. “Of course I am not hacking mom. You can ask my roomies.” She glanced over at me and gestured with her hand. “See mom, this is Amaia, I told you about her. Now you can ask her.” 

The woman fixed her dark eyes on me and I waved at her. “Hey Mrs. Walter. How’s it going?” 

She smiled at me. “Just fine thanks. So tell me, has my daughter been hacking or doing anything bad with her phone or laptop?” 

I looked at Paige and then back at her mom and crossed my own fingers. “Not in the slightest.” 

Paige smiled at me and then looked at her Mom. “See I told you.” 

“Well alright, but I do worry. I know how you get when you are around electronics.” 

I excused myself and went into the bathroom to take a shower and get dressed. When I came back out, Paige was still sitting on the couch, but now she was playing a game on the Play Station Sammy had left for us. I flopped down next to her and grabbed the second controller. “Killing zombies?” 

She nodded not taking her eyes from the screen. “Thanks for covering for me with my mom. She hates that I am a hacker and doesn't want me to draw attention to myself.” 

“Eh, don't worry about it. I might need you to lie to my mom a couple of times so no stress.” 

The couch dipped as Mack leaped over the top of it and landed next to me. She clucked her tongue as she watched us play. “Lying to your moms. Naughty girls.” 

I rolled my eyes. “How is your Aunt?” 

I felt the movement as she shrugged. “Same ole. She has been talking to my mom, seeing if she can bring her around. But I am not holding my breath.” 

I looked over at her. “Why is that?” 

She shrugged. “My parents hate what we are. I am not sure why, maybe because it scares them. They never really told me why I was doing the things I was doing. My Aunt finally told me.” She shrugged. “But I love my parents so when we do talk, we don't talk about this. We just talk about how I am doing and all of that.” 

Not sure what else to do, I reached out and patted her hand gently. “Well, you always have us.” 

She grinned at me. “Yeah, now stop being mushy.” 

The knock on the door interrupted what I was going to say. Paige yelled “Come in!” and the boys appeared. Sammy looked at us and then turned to Aiden. “You owe me 20 bucks man.” 

Aiden sighed and handed over the money. Mack narrowed her eyes. “What was that about?” 

Sammy shrugged. “I bet Aiden 20 bucks that you guys would be dressed and ready. He said there was no way.”

Mack snickered. “Well that is something you don't hear every day.” 

Sammy shrugged, “On the bright side, I got lunch money.” 

We all laughed and were soon walking outside to where Sammy’s Jeep Wrangler was parked. I gave it a dubious look, the thing had no top, not even a cloth to, the paint was chipped and faded in some places. I looked at Sammy and made a face at him “Is that thing going to hold us?” 

Sammy nodded. “Might take some squeezing, but it will be fine.” He pulled the passenger seat forward. “Hop in.” Paige gave him a look and then climbed into the back seat, which were ripped with some stuffing coming out. I followed after her and Aiden climbed in after me. Mack pushed the passenger seat back up and climbed in, while Sammy got into the driver’s side. “Ok ready?” 

He started the jeep, put it in gear and started driving down the road. In that moment, I took back everything I had thought about the jeep. Going down the road, with no top, was like flying. The wind whipped through my hair as Sammy flew down the road, taking corners almost on a hair pin of a turn, making us scream out with fear and pleasure. It was amazing. 

At one point when he was making a quick turn, everything seemed to slow down. It was like, like things went into slow mo and I could see every detail of it. The way the ocean swept out from where we were, a bird rising up from a tree. Just that one moment and then it was all back to normal. We eventually made it to town and Sammy parked in a Free Parking Area. We all got out of the jeep and looked around. “This is not the whole town is it?” 

He shook his head. “Nope. This is just the downtown section, where everything is centrally located. AT&T Store, Applebee’s, Movie Theater. The only thing not located here is the hospital that is located on the other side of town, by the ferry. Over there is the Municipal Auditorium, that is where the school dances are held. But they do other things there too.” 

We started walking down the street. There were little shops tucked into the various buildings, a few little miscellaneous clothing stores. Nothing really caught my attention from them. There was a book store that looked pretty stocked, I would love to poke my head in there. 

“Oh hey, one more thing to show you guys.” Sammy turned down the alley next to the bookstore. “Come on!” 

We followed him through the alley to a large opened space in the back. It took a minute for me to figure out that it was a Mechanic’s shop. Sammy poked his head through the large garage door. “Hey Gavin! Get out here ugly, I want you to meet some people.” 

“Alright, hold your horses!” An aggravated voice called back. A few seconds later, a young man popped out. He was wiping his hands on an oil stained rag, not that it was doing much good since his hands were just as filthy. He had ashy blonde hair and blue eyes that were currently zoomed in on Sammy with a glare. “What the hell are you doing here?” 

Sammy smiled. “Just wanted to introduce you to the new kids.” He waved at us with his hand. Gavin raised his eyebrows. “Hey guys. Nice to meet you.” 

I smiled at him and waved politely, Mack held out her hand, and Paige just stared. Her dark eyes were wide as Gavin shook Mack’s hand. She stepped forward and held out her hand for him to shake. “Nice to meet you Gavin, I am Paige.” 

He smiled at her, his blue eyes crinkling. “Nice to meet you Paige.” 

Sammy smiled. “Gavin is the best guy I know that can deal with cars. He knows what’s wrong sometimes just by smelling the gas fumes.”

Gavin rolled his eyes. “Yeah sure Sammy. I'm not that good, but I can get by.” He looked at Paige. “Don't tell me you have a car that is giving you problems.” 

She shook her head. “Not at all, I don't have a car.” 

He frowned for a second and then smiled. “Well then you will have to come and see me when you want one.” 

Paige blushed a soft crimson color and nodded her head. 

We chatted for a few more minutes and then Sammy sighed. “We have to scoot here, Mack wants to get a cell phone. So we will see you.” 

Gavin nodded. “Ok see you guys.” 

We all said goodbye and moved over to the next street where the AT&T store. Mack went inside and started looking at phones, Sammy went with her. I started to go in, but Paige tugged on my wrist. “Let’s go across the street to the Computer Store, I want to see if they have anything I could use.” 

I rolled my eyes, but followed behind her. As we crossed the street, I spotted Mari and Damien going into the small clothing store next to the Computer Store. I chewed on my lip for a second and then ran across the street into the clothing store. When I walked in, I ducked behind a rack that was right at the front of the store and peered over the top of it. Mari was looking at some clothes and Damien was watching her. They were laughing and talking a little. 

I wasn't sure why I followed them into the store. I mean, was I expecting to foil some plot they had going? They were just shopping. But, for some reason, I stayed right where I was. I heard the bell jingle a few minutes later and Paige stepped in, she started to say my name, but I yanked her down. “Shhh!” 

She peered over the rack to where Mari was standing. “What are we doing?” She asked in a hushed voice. 

I shook my head and whispered back. “Spying.” 

She peered over the rack as they moved further to the back of the store. “Um...what are we spying on?” 

I shook my head. “We are just watching Mari and her boyfriend over there.” 

Paige frowned a little. “Umm, I'm not one to point out the obvious, but there is really nothing to see. They are shopping.” 

Ignoring her, I pulled out my phone and started snapping pictures. After I had gotten about 6 of them. I clicked off my phone and then stood up. “Let’s go.” 

Paige followed me out shaking her head and mumbling under breath that I was a nut. When we got outside, I found Aiden leaning against the wall of the building. “Surprised you didn't barrel in there like a crazy person.” 

He shrugged his shoulders, “I was just enjoying the show. You know, if you are going to go for a covert spy mission, you should be a little more subtle, they spotted you a few times.” 

I rolled my eyes and he smirked. “What did you take pictures of?” 

I sighed and handed him my phone. “Nothing really, just got a hunch to do it.” 

He took the phone and flipped through the pictures. His pale finger paused at one and he frowned. “Hey Paige, you think you could enhance this picture if I sent it to you?” 

She looks at him like he had just asked her if the sky was blue. “Well duh.” 

He rolled his eyes, keyed in her number and forwarded the picture to her. He handed the phone back to me and smiled. “I might be wrong, you might be a good detective after all.” 

“So what was on the picture?” 

He shrugged. “Probably nothing, but I'm sure Paige will be able to enhance it enough to see.” 

I was about to ask more, but Mack and Sammy came out of the AT&T Store and waved to us. “Come on, I'm sure Sammy is eager to take us to lunch on my 20.00$.” 

 

The echo of screams bounced off the walls as the figure watched the prisoner whipped. After almost 100 lashes, their hand raised and their husky voice said: “Enough.” 

The lackey stepped back as the figure moved toward the cowering man chained the wall. “I gave you a simple assignment. Find the old women and kill them.” Fingers dug fingers into the open wound on the prisoner’s back, twisting it hard making the screams echo. “Find the old women and kill them! That was all you had to do.” 

“I-I am sorry.” The prisoner gasped out. “T-There, There were complications.” 

“Complications? No, no. Complications happen when there is a small problem. YOU LET THEM GET AWAY!” 

Loud cries gave way to hacking coughs. “Please, please. I am sorry. I can fix this. I can-” 

“Shh shhh. It’s over now. There is no need to fix it, I have taken care of the problem. And now, I am going to fix this problem I have.” 

The figure nodded to the lackey and stepped towards the door as the echoing sound of skin being sliced and a scream silenced as a head was removed from its shoulders. “I believe if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to everyone that has left Kudos and read this book! My writing partner and I are VERY proud of it! 
> 
> Thank you again!!

Sammy stood by the door watching Mack finish up her purchase of a new phone. She had chosen a Samsung and while Sammy thought the thing could use a few more bells and whistles, Mack seemed happy with the phone. She said it was very serviceable. He sighed softly and glanced at some of the sleeker, more stylish models. Maybe he should have pressed a little harder to get her to pick one of those. Although, he chuckled to himself, if Paige got her hands on Mack’s phone, the thing would probably gain the capability to realign satellites in space. 

He glanced over at her again, her sleek brown hair brushing the top of her shoulders as she answered questions. He still had no idea what to think of Mack, or any of the new girls for that matter. Usually, he kept his distance from new kids, especially the girls. Not that he ever had anything against the new kids, but who wanted to hang out with whiny babies who complained all the time about being confused, lost and afraid. But these girls….they just accepted it. They had pretty much hit the ground running, not only with his dad’s class but with other things as well. They were quite the level headed bunch and, tough to boot. That was part of the reason he had decided to hang out with them. The other reason was just one of the trio, Amaia. 

He was not attracted her, but she fascinated him. No one had ever seen a Dhampir with green eyes. When he had first seen her, he thought she was a Vampire and had almost raised the alarm right there in the van. But Aiden had gotten into the van and not seem perturbed about the girl. And Sammy knew Aiden well enough to know that if something was up, Aiden would have jumped on it. So would anyone else on the island, so Sammy had relaxed when they came ashore. But now, a lot of closed door meetings were going on between Council members. And most of them were at his house. Added to that, there was arguing going on and the Council never argued amongst themselves, not until Amaia’s name started getting tossed around. Apparently, she fascinated a lot of people.

He was shaken out of his musing when he glanced out the glass covered wall and blinked his eyes. Aiden, Amaia, and Paige were gathered up in a tight circle staring at something. Sammy frowned a bit when Mack came to stand next to him. “I hate when sales people try to talk me into something I don't want. I am not the one paying this bill, but still they should understand that I know what I want. I-”

She frowned as she followed his gaze. “What are they doing? Trying to communicate with Vampy’s home planet?”

Sammy shrugged. “I am not sure, let’s go find out.” 

 

I watched as Paige tapped on her phone screen using her various techniques to enhance and embellish the picture. She huffed out a breath. “I am going to have to send this to my computer and work on it there. My cell phone doesn't have enough stuff on it Amaia give me your phone.” I hesitated for a second and she held out her hand. “Come on, just give it to me.” I sighed and handed it over to her. She tapped the screen for a few seconds, then unclipped the back of my phone and pulled out the small Sim card. “Hey!” I protested. 

She rolled her eyes. “Relax seriously Mai.” 

“But images are not saved to the Sim card, it’s saved to the phone itself. And besides, Aiden sent the image to you.” 

She rolled her eyes as pulled opened the back of her phone and slipped my Sim card into her phone. “First of all, this is me you are talking to, I know my way around anything electronic. Second of all, sent images are never as easy to work with as the original. Any other questions I can answer?” 

“Yes. Why doesn't your phone have a Sim card in it?” 

She looked at me and winked. “Because I am an awesome hacker that needs no Sim card.” 

When my Sim card slipped into a slot, a small light lit up blue. “Ah ha, good job.” She flipped the phone over, tapped the screen a few times and smiled. “Ok done.” She pulled the Sim card out of the slot and then put it back into my phone. She closed the back and handed it to me. “There, now you can stop whining.” 

I was about to say something else when Sammy’s voice came up from right behind me. “What are you guys doing?” 

We all jumped a foot and I yelped. I turned around and smacked him in the chest. “Don't do that!” 

He winced and rubbed his chest. “Ow, don't hit fellow Dhampirs in the chest, it’s rude and it hurts. And don't do what?” 

“Sneak up on us!” 

He shook his head and chuckled. “I didn't sneak up anywhere. I walked up. It’s not my fault you guys are so into what you are doing that you didn't hear me.” 

I felt slightly bad and nodded. “Your right, I am sorry Sammy.” I caught movement out of the corner of my eye as Damien and Mari came out of the clothing store and walked down the road. I followed the movement as they went into the small Ice Cream store. “You know, let me make it up to you. Let me buy you some ice cream. In fact, I will treat everyone!” 

Mack started to protest but I grabbed her wrist. “No, no, I insist.” I gave it a yank and she stumbled after me. “Come on everyone, ice cream!” 

It took a few seconds for everyone to follow me, but we managed to troop down to the ice cream store. When we got there, I peered into the window. Damien and Mari were sitting at a table eating ice cream, perfect. I smiled as we all walked into the shop and got into the semi long line, completely ignoring the couple sitting at the table. 

Sammy smiled at me, like he knew what I was doing. “Well since Amaia insisted we come and get ice cream, I should give you a little history. This place is called Jiminy’s. They are famous around the island for being able to create any flavor.” 

I stopped my mental stalking of Mari and Damien long enough to look over at Sammy. “No way.” 

He nodded. “Yup, their motto is: You dream it, we make it. It’s amazing how they do it.” 

The line moved up a little. “How do they do it?” Paige asked 

“Well, they start off by making their own ice cream. Only it’s not flavored by anything. It’s just like milk, sugar and cream that is frozen. They take that as the base and fill up a cup. Then they take a filling; usually it’s like peanut butter cups, candy pieces, fruit chunks, even marshmallows. Then once that gets put in, they take flavored syrup and pour that in. Then they mix it all together and you have your ice cream.” 

I frowned a little. “They don't do it on cones?” 

He nodded. “Oh yeah, they can do it on cones. It’s a little more complicated, but they can do it.” 

I was excited to be in here now. Aside from the probably not so covert spy mission. But now, the ice cream sounded awesome. 

When we made it up the counter, the woman manning it smiled. “Hey Sammy, long time no see.” 

He smiled back at her. “Hey Claire.” He turned back to us. “This my friend Claire, she used to baby sit for me when I was younger. Claire these are my friends Amaia, Aiden, Mack and Paige.” 

Claire smiled at us, her gaze lingered on me for a second but she kept the smile. “It’s nice to meet you all. So what can I get you guys?” 

Sammy smiled. “I want Chocolate Bits with Blueberry Syrup, Medium Cup.” 

She tapped in the order. “Medium Choco Bit Blue.” 

She looked at me. “And for you?” 

I looked over the menu and smiled. “I want the chocolate covered cherries with coconut syrup in a Waffle Cone.” 

She smiled. “Ok, Wafflenated Cherry Coconut Blast.” 

She looked at Aiden. “How about you?” 

He smiled, “How about the Strawberry pieces with Red Velvet Syrup in a Small Cup.” 

She grinned at him. “Small Vampire Special.” 

We all went silent for a second and then started to laugh. She smiled at us. 

“Yes, we have an ice cream called Vampire Special. It becomes quite popular during Halloween. Along with Frankenstein’s Monster. Which is Black Licorice bits and Pistachio Syrup. And that incidentally is my favorite. So, who is next? Come on don't be shy.” 

Paige smiled and stepped forward. ‘Could I have a Banana Split?” 

Claire smiled at her. “Ah, you pose an interesting question, we don't really do that, but I could give you a banana split favored ice cream?” 

Paige nodded her head and Claire grinned. “Ok, so tell me what will go into this creation?” She grabbed a pad to write it down. 

Paige bit her lip and said. “I would like to have the Banana pieces, with Pecan bits, Peanut Butter Cup bits, and chocolate syrup.” 

Claire smiled. “Waffle Cone?” 

Paige nodded and Claire said. “Alright then. What’s your name hon?” 

Paige blushed a little. “Paige.” 

Claire smiled and reached over and rang a bell that was hanging next to the register. “Attention customers! A new flavor has been created here at Jiminy’s! It has Banana bits, Pecan pieces, and Peanut Butter Cup bits mixed with Chocolate Syrup! The name of this new flavor, should you want it, will be called Paige’s Banana Split! Give her a big hand!” 

Everyone started to clap. I think I clapped the hardest while Paige stared with a look of shock on her face. 

Mack chuckled and patted her back. “Good Job Paige. First weekend out and you get an ice cream flavor named after you.” 

After Paige started to protest, Mack stepped forward. “I want the brownie bits with Chocolate Syrup. In a small cup.” 

Claire smiled. “Ok Small Choco Brownie!” 

Once we all had our ice cream, I paid Claire and we trooped out to sidewalk. Sammy suggested that we take our ice cream down to the pier area where all the boats were docked. “I can show you my dad’s fishing boat and sometimes there are sea lions down there.” He said as he licked at his Choco Bit Blue

Mack smiled and licked her Choco Brownie “Your dad has a fishing boat?” 

He nodded his head. “During the summer when school is out, we have to make a living. So he fishes. Then sells the catch on the Mainland. That’s why Eureka is so famous for freshly caught fish, at least during the summer. But that helps their tourism and it puts money in our pocket. At least until the fall when school starts again.” 

Mack nodded her head. “Sure why not?” 

Paige smiled. “I am in.” She took a bite of her ice cream and followed after Sammy. 

Aiden slurped his at his Vampire Special and dropped his pace to match mine. “So did you get any good pictures Sherlock?” 

I rolled my eyes and bit into my Cherry Coconut Blast. It was amazing, the coconut flooded in with the cherry flavor and then there was just a hint of chocolate. “I don't know, I wasn't paying attention when I was taking them. And I didn't realize you were paying attention.” 

He smirked at me. “I am always paying attention, don't forget that.” 

I rolled my eyes a little. “We can look if you are so interested in what I am doing Watson.” 

He smirked at me. “Maybe later, for now, I am more interested in this ice cream.” 

I rolled my eyes at him as a girl rode by on her bike while a small dog chased after her, leaves fell from the trees and crunched under my feet. It was, a lovely fall day for sure. 

Aiden looked over at me. “Brooding over one comment? That seems very unlike you.” 

“Oh I was just thinking. My mom is coming at the end of the week. We will have to go out to dinner so she can meet you.” 

He raised his eyebrow. “Meet me? Why in the world would you want her to meet me?” 

I smirked at him. “Well considering you are always walking 2 steps behind me, I think she would notice you. And we might as well get the introductions out of the way. So that way when you cling to me like Velcro, she won't call the police.” 

He smirked back at me. “I have an in with the police so I am not worried.” He tossed his empty cup into the trash can as a woman jogged by us. 

“Well, even still I should warn her ahead of time.” 

 

“Well, whatever you feel is right.” 

“Your humanity is showing.” When he looked over at me, I shrugged. “Fear makes us feel our humanity.” 

He rolled his eyes and moved closer to me. “Benjamin Disraeli said that.” 

I couldn't stop myself. “Did you know him personally?” 

He rolled his eyes heavenward. “No I didn't. I am not one for gentleman’s correspondence.”  
I started laughing. I couldn't help it. The way he said it, it was like he was sitting in the parlor sipping tea. 

He rolled his eyes. “You know I hope when you are hitting your 100s, someone starts laughing at you because you didn't personally know Katy Perry.” 

I sucked in a breath and stuck my tongue out at him.

He grabbed my tongue with his fingers making me yelp. It wasn't with pain, I was just surprised he moved that fast. “Hey!” I mumbled out. 

“Naughty girls that stick out their tongues need to use it or lose it.” 

I think the blush hit my cheeks so fast I almost fell over. Instead of replying, I yanked my tongue away from his fingers and did a quick walk down to the docks to catch up with the others. 

I had never had someone say something so overtly sexual before. It was surprising and shocking. But interesting too, because Aiden was either teasing. Or he had just come on to me. 

Once I got down to the dock, Mack was using her new phone to take pictures of the Sea Lions. I moved next to her trying to catch my breath from my brisk walk. “Hey, getting some good pictures?” 

She nodded. “Yup, you missed it. That Sea Lion.” She pointed to one that was currently bobbing in the water. “He was sunning on that rock.” She pointed to a large rock that had a Sea Lion sitting on it, with its head pointed to the sky, obviously sunning. “The one that is there now, was trying to get the other guy to move and when he didn't, that one just knocked the first one right into the water. It was great.” She looked over at me and frowned. “What’s wrong with you?” 

I blinked at her. “What?” 

“Your face is flushed and you look like you have been running. You're sweating a little.” 

I shook my head. “I am fine.” 

She did a quick look around. “Your stalker is missing too. Hmm, are these two things…somehow….connected?”

I started to protest and say that there was no way, when Sammy appeared next to us. “Hey, we should get going. It will be dinner time soon.” 

Mack looked down at her phone. “Well I will be damned. It’s almost 4:00.” 

Happy for the escape, not to mention skipping the inquisition that Mack was about to launch at me. “I think that is a great idea. To the car!” Ignoring the weird looks, I took off for the car as fast as my Dhampir legs would carry me.

 

The ride home was very quiet, very subdued. Paige actually fell asleep with her head on my shoulder. I concentrated on watching the sun dip down to touch the top of the ocean. By the time we got back to the dorms, I was sure Aiden grabbing my tongue had been nothing. I had just been making a mountain out of a mole hill. I did that a lot. 

Sammy parked the car in the garage and we all got out, with me supporting a very sleepy Paige. 

Mack smiled at Sammy. “Thanks for today Sammy boy, it was fun.” 

He rolled his eyes. “Glad I could help you out. See you guys at dinner?” 

We all broke away, heading up the stairs to our dorm, while Sammy went towards the apartment he shared with his parents on the ground floor. Aiden followed him to go to his own apartment. 

Mack climbed the stairs in front of us and lingered in the hall of the Purple level. We could hear the childish squeals and cries from little girls. Mack sighed softly. “Ok, I don't think I can do another flight of stairs after all the walking we did and after enduring a week with King Sadist. Do you think the elevator works?” 

Paige (who had perked up a little and was walking on her own two feet), looked up and down the hall. “They wouldn't put it there if it didn't.” 

“I am with Mack,” I said “After the week we just had with Baran, I can't imagine what kind of tortures he is going to inflict on us this coming week. I would rather save my strength and take the elevator.” 

Paige rolled her eyes. “Come on you babies.” We walked over to the elevator and pressed the button. There were a few clangs, some creaks and then the door slid opened. I gave the elevator a look and then shook my head. “I will take the stairs.” I started to turn away but Mack grabbed the back of my shirt. “Come on.” 

She pulled me backwards and drug me onto the elevator. “Guys come on, I hate heights and enclosed spaces are not that great either.” 

Mack ignored my protests. “Now don't be a baby. We are just going to the next floor.” 

“Do you know how many people die a year in elevator crashes?” 

Mack rolled her eyes and hit the button. “Not as many that die when their friends toss them out of a second story window.” 

I sighed as Paige started to laugh. There was a creak and then the elevator started to move. I held tight to the safety bar around the edge, counting softly to myself to keep myself calm. 

When the elevator finally stopped (after what seemed like forever), and the doors slid opened; I almost sprinted off the elevator and into the hall. I heard Mack and Paige laughing behind me. I just ignored them as I pressed my hands to my knees and sucked in some breaths. That’s when I noticed the carpet. Our carpet was a beige color, dulled from years of wear and tear, but still in good order. This carpet was rich and red. It was soft like marshmallows under my feet. I lifted my eyes to look at the hall. Gold and Burgundy stripes danced across the walls with an intricately designed wallpaper. I turned back to the girls. “I think we are on the wrong floor.” I hissed out in a whisper. 

My suspicions were confirmed when I heard a door opened and a husky, female voice called out. “Gretchen, is that you?” 

I shoved the two of them back into the elevator, leaped in after them and started hitting the down button. The doors just closing when a figure stepped out of the door nearest to the elevator. I huffed a sigh of relief. “Well, I think it’s safe to say, wherever we were, we did not belong there.” 

Mack frowned. “I don't understand, I hit the up button.” She tapped to the arrow that was pointing up. I glanced at it myself and bit my lip. “I am wondering if this elevator just goes up to the top floor.” 

Mack looked too. “But why would anyone just go straight up to the top floor? Paige, can you hack and find out what is up there; and why this elevator would just straight up there.” 

Paige snorted. “I don't have to hack. I know. This is Service Elevator. It is used for servants to bring meals to the people they serve.” 

I frowned. “So you mean, someone lives up there and gets food via the elevator?” 

Paige shrugged. “And probably lots of other things.” 

Mack frowned. “Then why in the world wouldn't they say this elevator is for personal use only?” 

Paige shrugged again. “Probably because they never expect anyone to take it. We are supposed to take the stairs.” 

Mack smirked. “I guess from now on, we will.” 

The elevator doors slid opened and we stepped out. I could still hear the chatter of the little ones but now, they were all heading out the door for dinner. Instead of going upstairs, we just melded into the crowd and followed behind them. 

When we walked into the dining room, the punch of noise assaulted my sense. Since lunch was each color group at different times, it was quieter. But dinner was everyone all together, so it was nosier. I usually opted to take my food and eat outside since I still wasn't really used to the noise, I was used to quiet dinners with just me and Mama. I walked outside with my plate balanced on a tray and sat down at one of the wrought iron tables. One of the servers came out with a glass of soda for me. I thanked her and she went back inside. I took a sip of the soda and sighed softly. 

“Noise getting to you?” 

I jumped at the sound of a voice and turned around to see Damien sitting on the edge of one the brick planters. I pressed my hand to my chest and took a breath. “What are you doing out here?” 

He shrugged. “Oh, I just thought I would get away from the noise. I am used to quiet evenings. The noise level in there is a little much.” 

I gave me a polite smile. “You have my deepest sympathies.” 

He walked over and sat down in the chair across from me. “And you have mine. So are you enjoying school so far?” 

I took a bite of spaghetti from my plate. “I am. It’s pretty fun. I was sorry to see you drop out of Baran’s class.” 

He laughed. “I have done his class before. So it was no issue to drop it.” 

I frowned a little. “I thought you were new, like the rest of us.” 

He shook his head and snagged a piece of my garlic bread and took a nibble. “Nope, I have been at the school off and on for a while.” 

“So why are you still a Blue?” 

He looked at me, his dark eyes shining, not at all attractive. “Who said I was? Maybe I am at a higher level.” 

I rolled my eyes a little bit. “Because you are taking the same classes as the Blue’s.” 

He smirked at me. “Doesn't mean a damn thing. You can take any class you want at any level.” 

“Really?” He nodded. “Then why did we get our class schedules from Darby?”

He shrugged. “I guess they are trying to control the newbies a little bit more.” 

“Do what?” 

He nodded. “It’s been tossed around here and there that the newer Dhampirs need to be under the Council’s control more than previous generations. The more they control you, the easier you are to manipulate.” 

“And why, would they want to manipulate us?” 

“You ever heard the saying absolute power corrupts absolutely?” 

I nodded and he smirked. “So when absolute power corrupts, who do you think suffers? 

I rolled my eyes. “So what the Council is planning on turning the Dhampirs into an army and take down the evil Vampires?” I started to laugh, it sounded so far-fetched.

I stopped laughing when I saw Damien was staring at me, not laughing or smiling. “Are you serious?” I demanded of him. 

He shrugged. “Just from what I have seen, it’s a good possibility.” 

“That makes no sense. Why would they bring us all the way here, to keep us safe, only to hurt us in the long run?” 

He shrugged. “Like I said rumors. But something to think about.” He winked at me and turned to walk down the outside steps. 

I blinked and ran down the stairs after him. “Hey wait a minute!” 

He kept walking, if anything he moved faster down the stairs, so I increased my speed to catch up to him. “Damien wait! Damien.” 

Once he got to the bottom of the stairs, he turned to the left towards the Boys’ dorm rooms. “Damien!” When I hit the bottom of the stairs, a force hit me and knocked me to the ground. I let out a yelp and kicked out my legs like Baran had been teaching us. It knocked whatever was on me off, but the thing was on me again. In the faint light, it was hard to tell what it was. I let out a scream, hoping Aiden could hear me. Of course the guy is usually two steps behind me when everything is great, but a real emergency he is nowhere to be found! Probably having sex with Taylor in the kitchen. 

The anger I felt helped fuel some of my strength and when I hit my attacker in the neck, it let out a yelp and rolled to the ground. I rolled to my feet and took off running screaming for help. The thing tackled me again and grabbed me by my hair slamming my face into the ground. I let out another scream and in a very human move, slammed my elbow into the attacker’s face. I felt their nose crunch under my elbow. There was a howl of pain and they let me go. I was a bit too dazed from having my head slammed into the ground to really move fast, but I managed to get up and crawl on my hands and knees towards the bushes that were in front of me. I was almost there when I felt a hand grab my ankle. I let out another scream and kicked my foot backwards. But this time, my foot just connected with thin air. I looked over my shoulder to see what had happened. I flipped to my back, landing on my ass and stared at the sight in front of me. 

Aiden was there, he had the figure on the ground. It wasn't much of a fight, a few flashes of hitting from Aiden and then the figure lay still. I got up and ran over to him. “Aiden!” 

He stood up quickly and I crashed into his arms. “Amaia, what the hell are you doing here by yourself?” 

I pulled back to look at him. “I wasn't, by myself. I was with Damien. I followed him down the stairs and that thing…whatever it is, attacked me!” 

He looked back at the still lump. “It was a vampire.” 

“But I thought, they couldn't come on the island. We were told they can't come on the island. THEY ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ON THE ISLAND!” 

He grabbed my chin with his chilly fingers. “Amaia, breathe. I know they are not supposed to be here, and I will figure out what is going on. But you have to calm!” 

I took a breath and closed my eyes. When I felt my heart return to a normal pace, I opened my eyes. “Better?” he asked. 

I nodded and took another breath. “Yeah.”

“Good, we need to get back to the others. 

I walked with him towards the small group standing on the stairs. They all turned when we appeared and Paige ran towards me. “Are you ok?” 

I nodded my head. “I'm fine. I'm ok.” 

Mack stepped forward. “We walked outside to have dinner with you and you were gone. Vampy came out to check on you and we heard you screaming. Old man here took off like a shot! I have never-”

“Thank you Mack.” Aiden cut her off sharply and gave me a small push. “I need to go help get the mess cleaned up. She needs a hot shower. Take her upstairs, I will come up in a little bit.” 

Paige nodded and took my arm, “Come on Mai.” 

She led me around the Dining Hall and towards the girls’ dorms. I huffed a breath. “Well that was exciting.” 

Mack snorted behind me. “Yeah, a bit too exciting. You just took 5 years off my life, I hope you know that.” 

I looked over my shoulder at her. “I thought the term was 10 years.” 

She shot me a dirty look. “5 or 10, you did it.” 

I laughed softly and followed Paige up the stairs into the lobby. A few of the Purples were gathered around in small groups, talking amongst themselves. When they saw me, they stopped talking and then started again, this time whispering. I groaned softly. Great, I was gossip fodder for a bunch of Tweeners. This day just got 5 times better. 

I moved my arm from Paige’s grip and went up the stairs. Once I went around and hit the second floor landing I turned down the hall to our room. A few of the other Blues stuck their heads out the door, but for the most part, they just glanced over and then put their heads back in. 

“Well at least they don't want to gossip in front of me.” 

Mack hustled us to the door. Once we were in, she shut the door and then for good measure locked it. Paige started closing the blinds on the windows. I was going to tell them that I didn't think closed blinds and locked doors are going to stop a Vampire that wants to come in. But I just held my peace and went to get my Jammies. 

They were still working when I came out of the bedroom and went into the bathroom. I took a hot shower, put on my jammies and brushed out my hair. After I was finished, I stepped out into the sitting room. The girls has stopped their mad dash and were sitting on the couch. Aiden and Sammy were sitting with them. 

I walked over and sat down at Aiden’s feet. “So did anyone find out what happened?” 

Aiden sighed and nodded. “Someone used a boat to get the Vampire over. He claimed he was bringing over some supplies and the docking crew thought nothing of it. They tried to find the boat, but it went back to the Mainland.” 

“So no boat and no one to question.” 

Aiden shrugged and grabbed a strand of my hair, twirling it around his finger. “They have hope, but I have a feeling that they are not going to come up with anything good.” 

“Anyone find Damien?” I asked. 

“Damien was found in his dorm room sleeping. He claims that he didn't hear you screaming.” 

Mack frowned. “Then he must be deaf and dumb because I heard her screaming from the dining room. You got a set of lungs on your kiddo.” 

I smiled, or tried to. “One of my many talents.” 

Paige sighed. “So what happens now?” 

Aiden shrugged. “I think for now, we all go to bed.” 

Mack looked at him like he had grown another head. “Go to bed?” 

He nodded. “Yes. The Council knows what happened, they are dealing with the mess. And security is going to be beefed up. There is really nothing else that can be done tonight.” 

Mack started to argue, but Paige touched her wrist. “I agree with Aiden. We should get some sleep. Amaia?” 

I wanted to say I wasn't tired, that I didn't want to be treated like a child to be sent away while the adults talked amongst themselves. But I was too damned tired to argue. So I stood and went to the room and shut the door. And then stood next to it and listened.

“Are you staying with us Vampy?” 

“Yeah I am.” 

“I will get you some blankets.” I heard Paige say as she moved closer to the door, I started to back up but Aiden’s voice stopped her. 

“No that’s ok, I will probably just watch TV. This is one of my non sleep nights.”

I heard Paige’s footsteps back up to the couch. “So any reason why they went after her?” 

Aiden sighed heavily. “She was the intended target. The Council got that much out of him, or probably will when they are done. He is pretty loyal to his maker, whoever it is.” 

There was a beat of silence. “Should we be worried?” Mack asked. 

There was another beat of silence before Aiden said, “Nope. Just be on guard.” 

I had to fight back a groan. Great, looks like my own security is going to be beefed up. 

I wonder if it’s too late to have that Vampire kill me.


	10. Chapter 10

Aiden sat in the sitting room at 2:00am. He was watching Family Guy on Adult Swim, and usually he loved nothing more than getting lost in the insane ravings of Seth McFarlane; but tonight, his whole body was tight and ready to spring. He was ready for anything, from Vampires bursting into the window, to Amaia waking up from a nightmare. Hell, he was ready to spring if a cockroach wandered in and looked menacing. 

He was still a raw from the earlier event. How in the world could he have let that happen? How could he have let his guard down that much that Amaia almost got hurt! Anthony would have killed him if that had happened! In fact, given the context of their earlier phone conversation, if Anthony had had the ability to reach through the phone and do just that, he probably would have. 

The sound of the door opening stopped his musings and had him jerking his head around to look. Paige who appeared in the bedroom doorway and his stance relaxed. “Be careful.” He muttered, “I am a little on edge.” 

Paige rolled her eyes and sat down next to him on the couch. “Sorry, but I finally got that picture Amaia took of Damien enhanced enough to see it. I thought you would want to see it.”

Aiden snorted. “I do. It’s odd to me that with his Dhampir hearing, he didn't hear Amaia screaming bloody murder, even though the rest of us did.”

Paige nodded, “Definitely something to talk to him about.” 

Aiden chuckled humorlessly. “One of the many things I have planned. Along with putting my foot up his ass.” 

Paige looked into his eyes and saw how serious he was and just nodded her head. She could get behind that, because if he had heard Amaia and just ignored her screams, Damien deserved to have his ass kicked. “Here take a look.” 

Aiden took the tablet from Paige’s hands and twisted it around. She had zoomed in as much as she could, it was a little blurry but it looked like he was texting someone. A someone with a very long number. “Did you research this number at all?” 

Paige nodded her head. “Nothing popped up. It’s not local. And it’s not East Coast either, I know what those numbers look like.” 

Aiden zoomed in the picture, trying to track the number pattern. “What are you up to Damien?” 

 

The next morning was good, bad and worse. It was good because it was still technically the weekend. So the weekday tortures would not resume until the next day. It was bad though, because it was raining. And any hope I had of escaping the long looks and whispers just went right out the window. And it was worse because when I did drag myself out of bed, and walked into the sitting room, three pairs of eyes turned to me. I groaned softly, obviously my hope that last night had been a horrible nightmare was not going to prove true. 

“Come on you guys,” I said. “I am fine. I just want to get dressed and go to breakfast.” 

Mack smiled. “Well there is good news, you don't have to get dressed. We brought breakfast to you.” She gestured to the train that was sitting on the small coffee table. 

I should have been grateful, because of the bad list. But for some reason, that cheerful breakfast made me mad. “I don't want to eat breakfast in the room. I want to go to the Dining Hall like a normal person. You know, sit at the table and eat.” 

Aiden shook his head. “You can't. At least until the Council clears it.” 

I sucked in a breath, my temper nipping at the back of my brain. “Well who died and made the Council the boss of me? I have rights. This is a school, not a prison!” 

Paige sighed heavily. “Mai, come on.” 

“No! You guys come on! I am not going to let some….hiccup stop me from living my life!” 

Aiden leapt to his feet. “Hiccup?! Amaia that was a Vampire you took on! You could have been killed!” 

Aiden’s anger fueled my own, which was not good in this situation. “But I wasn't!” 

“By pure dumb luck!” 

“So what? Now you guys are going to dog my every step? Chew my food? Look under my bed for monsters?” 

When the silence moved over everyone and they just looked at me, I sucked in a breath. “I see. Well then.” I turned on my heel and marched towards the double doors. Mack called after me. “I hope you don't plan to climb out the window.” 

I paused for a second. “Nope, I am going to do what any self-respecting person would do in my place.” 

Aiden smirked at me. “And what is that?” 

“I am going to tell my Mommy on you!” 

I stomped into the room and slammed the door behind me for good measure. The damn thing didn't lock or I would have snapped that closed too. I stomped over to my bed, pulled out my laptop and booted up Skype. It took just a few minutes for Mama to answer, which made me a little testier. When she did though, she smiled and said “Hey Baby!” And I felt my anger drain out of me. 

 

I smiled back at her. “Hey Mama. How’s it going?” 

“Oh it’s good here. Just finished packing up my last box and getting ready to tackle suitcases. And I put down a deposit down on that house I was telling you about. Spoke to a wonderful person named Baran. 

I almost jumped with joy. “That's Sammy’s dad.” 

She smiled at me. “He sounds like a bear.” 

I nodded, trying to move along the conversation. “I am glad you put a deposit down. Maybe once things get settled, I can move in with you. Dorm life is not all I thought it would be.”

Mama frowned a little. “Actually, I like the idea of you staying at the school. After Kendra called me last night-”

I gasped. “KENDRA called you last night?” 

“My daughter was attacked by a Vampire Amaia, of course she called me!” 

“But I don't understand why. Everything is fine.” Aside from the bruises, which I was doing a good job of covering up. 

“Because you were in a dangerous situation that you managed to get out of by the skin of your teeth.” 

“Oh come on Mama, not you too!” 

She sighed softly. “Honey, everyone is only looking out for your best interests. Things will calm down once the Council clears everything.” 

I growled softly. “Is that what Kendra told you?” 

She nodded. “In not so many words, but yes.” 

I sighed heavily and Mama rolled her eyes. “It’s not forever. Give them a couple of days.”

I buried my face into the pillow under me. “Until then, I have the whole bodyguard team ready to leap in front of me at the first sign of danger.” I am sure half of what I said was muffled, but I wanted to make my pain palpable here. 

“Oh suck it up.” 

I jerked my head. “What?” 

 

Mama’s angry face filled the screen. “You think this is hard on you? You are a child. You are my child! I am 3,000 miles away from you! You were attacked last night, forget that it was a Vampire. You. Were. Attacked! You could have been hurt and not just a few scrapes! You could have had your face sliced opened, busted your head opened, been mauled by a bear! Anything could have gone wrong. And you are moaning and groaning because you have to take a few extra precautions? You should have been taking them anyway!” 

“Mauled by a-”

She waved her hand and I shut up. “You are in a brand new place. You barely know the rules, so you should be cautious where you go and who you follow behind. So stop acting like you are going to walk down the street to Taylor’s. This is WHOLE new territory!” 

I opened and closed my mouth, but I really couldn't reply to that little outburst. She must have seen the look on my face because she took a breath and said. “Sorry I exploded on you. But you know, you deserved it.” 

The only thing I could get out from between my numb lips was. “Yeah, sorry for being a whiney teenager.” 

She rolled her eyes and started to say something else. I jumped in before another rant was launched. “Did Elizabeth come over?” 

Mama frowned a little and shook her head. “No, she sent me a text last night that her plans had been moved up and she wasn't going to be able to come. She is sending me a few things to take with me before I leave.” 

“What things?” 

Mama shrugged. “She didn't say. I didn't get a chance to ask. She said she would text me when it was important, but other than that, she wished me a safe trip. I was worried so I tried to call your Grandmother Caroline, her number was no longer in service.” 

“Um wow. Should we be worried?” 

“Absolutely not.” Mama said firmly. “They are adults and Elizabeth said she had a handle on what she was doing. I believe her.” 

I nodded my head. “So, I will see you on Friday.” 

“Hmm probably Saturday. Not sure what time I will get there. So I want you to behave yourself ok? Remember everyone has-”

“My best interests at heart.” I recited dutifully. 

“Which does not include being a smart ass. I have to go. I love you and I will see you soon.” 

“I love you too.” 

I signed off of Skype and closed the laptop. I sighed heavily, swung my feet to the floor and moved towards the door. I opened it up to see my 3 bodyguards in deep conversation. I cleared my throat and they all turned to look at me. “For the record, I apologize. I was acting like an idiot.” 

Mack smirked at me. “Yes you were. Next time you do that, I am not above hitting you in your idiot head. As I said before, I hate drama.”

I flopped down on the couch next to her and picked up the plate they brought me. “And as I said before, usually I don't display such things, but my dander was a bit up.” 

Mack started to say something else when there was a knock on the door. Everyone froze. I blinked my eyes. “Um, should I take my plate and retreat to the bedroom? You know, just in case I might faint from fear?” 

Aiden rolled his eyes and walked over to the door. “Hey Mari.” 

“Hello. I was wondering if I could see Amaia.” 

Aiden looked over at me and I shrugged. He turned back to the door. “Sure come in.” 

Mari walked into the room and when she looked at me, she burst into tears. The bacon I had been munching on fell from my fingers to the plate. “Uh Mari...” 

She buried her face into her hands. “Oh it’s terrible! Damien is beside himself. He can't believe this happened.” 

“Um, why don't you sit down?” Paige asked her. 

Mari stumbled over to the couch, still sobbing in her hands. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. “Uh, there there. It’s ok. I am fine. No harm, no foul.” 

Paige handed her a tissue, but I noticed Mack was hanging back with Aiden, appraising the situation. I cleared my throat. “Really Mari, its fine. I don't blame Damien. It was my own fault.” 

The sobs ceased and she looked up at me, dabbing her face with the tissue. “You don't blame him?” 

I was taken off guard by the sudden stop of her tears. “Uh no. I mean, I shouldn't have followed him. It was my fault. You can tell him I don't blame him if that is your mission.” 

 

She sniffled. “Well not my only. I was worried about you and I wanted to apologize again for how I acted on the train. Like I said before, I never act like that and I am sorry.” 

I smiled at her and rubbed her shoulder. “Well it’s ok, just don't do it again.” 

She smiled and crossed her heart. “Listen, I was hoping that we could have lunch together, when this whole thing blows over.” 

I looked over at the other girls. Paige was smiling a little, but Mack had a more reserved face on. Like she was watching for something. 

I looked at Mari and patted her back. “I am sure that will be fine. I will let you know.” 

She burst into fresh tears and stood up. “Thanks you guys.” She stood up and went out the door, still crying. 

I sighed softly and rubbed my face. “Goodness.” 

Mack cleared her throat. “Ok I take it back. That was an epic drama display if I have ever seen one.” 

I chuckled softly and rubbed my face. “Oh my God. I was ready to give her anything to get her to stop crying. I probably would have promised my first born son.” 

Aiden laughed. “Watch how you toss those first born sons around Amaia. Remember what happened to the Pharaoh in the Old Testament.” 

I rolled my eyes. “I don't think I have pissed anyone off enough to summon a plague upon my house.” 

Aiden laughed again and shook his head. “Come on, let’s veg out and kill some zombies.” 

I flopped back against the couch. “Why not, nothing else to do today. Although I would like to take a shower, anyone want to go in first and make sure there is nothing that will jump out of the toilet at me?” 

Mack rolled her eyes and snagged a piece of my bacon. “Please, nothing will jump out at you from the toilet. My money would be on the window.” 

At that, I stuck my tongue out at her and she rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that is quite the mature response.” 

I smirked at her and grabbed the pillow from the couch and smacked her in the face. “How is that for a mature response?” 

She grabbed the pillow back and smacked me in the face. I yelped and hit the ground. “Ow!” 

She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, it wasn't that hard.” 

I smiled at her and got to my feet. “Well if my bodyguards are done torturing me, I think I will go take my shower so we can kill some zombies.” 

I went into the bedroom, grabbed up some clothes, and went into the bathroom. Once I was under the warm water, I leaned my head against the tiles and gave in to the tears I had been holding back since last night. 

Everyone thought I was treating this incident like it was no big deal. But it was, I had been terrified. I had been attacked, knocked the ground and flung around like a rag doll. If Aiden had not come when he did….I didn't want to think about that. 

“I can't live my life in the could haves.” I muttered to myself as I grabbed my shampoo and poured it into my hand. “Just accept what happened and move on.” 

I finished my shower and got dressed. After I had put some semblance of order to my hair (and making sure the bruise on my head was covered), I went back out to the sitting room where the others were sitting. 

“Zombie time?” I asked. 

The rest of the day passed slowly. We spent the biggest part of it killing zombies and getting food brought to us. The monotony of the day was broken up when Sammy arrived bearing donuts. 

After everyone took one, he sat down on the couch and bit into his own. “I just wanted to let you know the Council’s decisions.” 

I chomped into my own donut. “Please tell me they are letting me-wait, did you just say ‘decisions’? As in more than one?” 

He nodded and I groaned. “It’s not that bad. Really. I promise.” He said. 

“Just tell me so I can go sulk in my room.” 

He rolled his eyes at me. “There is nothing sulkable about this. They basically have two requests of you. First one is, don't go anywhere alone. You can walk around campus after dark, as long as you have someone with you. They are asking you not go off campus after dark at all. And if you leave campus during the daytime, to have at least 2 people with you.” 

I groaned softly. “Fine. And the other request?” 

Sammy nibbled on his donut “They would like to meet with you.” 

“Do what?” 

He nodded. “Yeah, they want to meet up with you.” 

“Am I to expect the Spanish Inquisition?” 

He shook his head. “They just want to talk. I mean, you did get attacked by a Vampire.” 

I blew out a breath and rubbed my eyes. “By the way, what happened with that?” 

Sammy finished his donut and brushed his hands together. “He said he was supposed to attack the Dhampir with green eyes and not anyone else.” 

“That explains why it didn't attack Damien.” Paige said. 

Sammy nodded. “That was all the Council got out of him, other than how he got over here. And now being that he is pretty damn dead, I would say any other information is impossible.” 

Mack frowned a little. “Wait a minute, there is a huge hole in that logic Sammy.” 

He looked at her, “What do you mean?” 

“How did he know Amaia was the Dhampir with green eyes? I mean, it was dark.” 

Aiden smirked, “Vampires can see in the dark.” 

Mack rolled her eyes. “Which I am aware of, but unless they have the ability to zoom in like a camera, how in the world did that Vampire see her eyes? Because he had to be some distance away for Damien to miss him.” 

Paige bit her lip and then said. “Unless he was hiding in the bushes and just came out when he saw Amaia. I mean, if it’s dark, I am sure her green eyes were lit up like Times Square on New Year’s. Especially if he was looking for her.” 

Mack sighed softly. “Flimsy, but I will take it.” 

“Maybe I will invest in some contacts.” I muttered under my breath. 

Mack snorted. “Please, you have awesome eyes.” 

I stood up and picked my way over to the doors. “They are the only thing my Bio dad gave me. Who, according to my Grandmother, was a worthless bastard.” I shrugged. “So since my house arrest is over, can I dress for dinner?” 

Sammy smiled at me. “As long as it’s not in front of polite company.” 

I rolled my eyes at him. “Yeah Sammy, my desire for you burns like white hot fire in my belly. I can't help but take my clothes off for you.” Mack snorted and tossed a pillow at me, which I caught and tossed back to her. 

 

It was a relief to be able to walk down to the Dining Hall with my friends, sit down at the table and enjoy a hot meal. While we were eating, I brought up my Mama coming to town. Paige smiled. “Oh that is cool, my mom is too.” 

“When is she due to arrive?” 

Paige scooped up some of her salad she was eating. “She is hoping Wednesday, she needed to clear some stuff up with my Daddy first. But she said she was going to fly out either Monday or Tuesday.” 

“I wonder what is going to happen since the Ferry got attacked.” Mack said as she bit into some bread. 

“They are going to bring them from the Fort Bragg side.” 

I jumped and hit Aiden in the chest. “Jesus, don't do that!” 

He winced and rubbed his chest. “Sorry. You know, you should learn not to hit. It’s rude, and it paints in you a violent light.” 

I rolled my eyes. “Swear out a warrant for me tomorrow.” 

He chuckled and sipped from the ever familiar cup. “Maybe I will.” 

I huffed out a breath and was about to say something when Mack jumped in. “Wait a second, Fort Bragg is two hours away, how are they going to bring everyone over here by boat.” 

Aiden smirked over his cup as his green eyes sparkled. “I didn't say by boat, I just said they are bringing them via the Fort Bragg side.” 

Paige sighed softly. “Well please do not keep us in suspense, do grace us with your knowledge.” 

Mack looked over at Paige and laughed. “Why Paige, I do believe that is the first time I have ever heard you be sarcastic.” 

She smiled at Mack and winked at her. “I try not to use it often. Kills the fun of it.” Paige turned to Aiden. “So fill us in. How are they getting here?” 

Aiden smiled and took another sip from his cup. “By Helicopter.” 

I spit out my soup and started coughing. Once I had my breath and managed to snort out. “Are you kidding me? The Council has its own Helicopter?” 

He nodded, “Yup, they keep it on hand for emergencies. We have our own hospital, but sometimes a person needs more attention than can be given, so they buzz them to the Mainland.” 

“Oh this is just ridiculous.” I muttered under my breath. 

Aiden grinned at me. “You are sitting at a table having a conversation with a Vampire and you think having a Helicopter is the epitome of ridiculousness?” 

“I just think this is a bit much. It’s like, where are they generating the income to run a whole town? How are they able to afford all of the things they can afford? How can- What the hell Aiden!” I stared at him as water dripped down from my hair over my face and to my shoulders. 

Aiden set the empty water glass down and smirked at me. “You are freaking out and need to breathe. Clearly you have some lingering hysteria going on.” 

I took the napkins that Paige offered and started rubbing my wet hair. “I do NOT have lingering hysteria! I am just curious about the financial stuff.” 

He rolled his eyes. “Sammy is the person you need to be asking, or Baran.” 

I squeezed the napkins around my dripping hair as I glared at him. “I will get you back for this. You know this right?” 

He smirked at over his cup. “I look forward to what you would consider the ultimate revenge little girl.” 

 

The next day was a busy one. Miss Hilbert, being the kind and loving soul she was, surprised us with a pop quiz. I spent most of the class scratching my head over the questions, and hoped most of them were right. 

English and Science sped by, and lunch was uneventful. Dhampir History was interesting, it was neat to learn a little bit more about Frederick. The land holdings he possessed at the time were amazing, some of the richest, most fertile farm country. And the Twins still held onto it, which would probably explain where some of the income everyone was sitting on came from. 

Vampire Class (as I called it) kept my interest as well. Mr. Connors had us pair up with partner to research the Torpor. Each set was to look at the different things related to the Torpor. I got paired up with a girl named Leeza. Who, as soon as we sat down to study what Torpor did to respiration, blurted out in a lowered voice. 

“OMG, did you hear about that girl getting attacked by a Vampire the other night?” 

 

“Uh, yeah, I did.” 

“Apparently, my roommate’s boyfriend JUST missed it. He didn't even know what was going on, until someone from the Council came and pounded on his door.” 

I blinked my eyes. “Really?” 

She nodded and snapped her gum. “Totally. But, anyway, yesterday morning, my roommate Mari finds out what is going on, and she calls her boyfriend Damien right? ‘Cause she found out he was there, and has like this super long convo with him. Completely calm and relaxed, she even laughed a few times. Then bam, she shoots out of her room and says she needs to go check on the girl it happened to. She was totes upset when she went too. Which was weird, because it was like her tears came out of nowhere.” 

“Weird.” I agreed softly, and it was. Why in the world would Mari be fine and then burst into hysterical tears. Maybe something Damien had said had upset her. That was probably it. Boy, I was getting as bad Paige with my paranoid side. But I guess being attacked by a Vampire sorta makes you paranoid. 

After Vampire class, I made my way to Baran’s class. I was bracing myself for whatever torture he had prepared for us. Since he was on the Council and Sammy had been running messenger, I was sure he had something in mind for us. When I made it to the double doors, I saw Paige leaning against the wall, munching on her constant bag of Reese’s Pieces. “What are you doing out here?” 

She took another handful and spoke around the candy. “Baran is setting up something up in there. He kicked me out and told me not to come in until everyone was here. From what I saw, he plans on scarring us for life.” She leaned the bag towards me.

I rolled my eyes and took some of the candy she offered. “Ah high school. Where being scarred for life is a mandatory requirement for graduation.”

She rolled her eyes and took another handful of candy. Mack appeared from my left. “Easy there, you are going to choke on those things.” 

Paige rolled her eyes and muttered around her huge mouthful. “I have been eating these things since I was little. I am not going to choke.” 

Mack looked around. “Why are we standing out here?” 

I shrugged. “Waiting for everyone else so Baran will let us in.” 

Mack smirked. “Ah, what fun events does he have planned for this afternoon?” 

I shrugged. “No idea, but Paige said he was putting together something.” 

Mack was about to say something, when the double doors where thrown opened and Baran stood in front of us. “Ah, good. The victims have arrived.” He glanced at Mack and Paige. “Sassy mouth, you take Reese’s Pieces over there and get suited up. Hit the floor and start warm up. I want to talk to Green Eyes here.” 

Mack nodded, grabbed Paige’s arm and yanked her forward. The last thing I heard before the door closed was. “Did he just call me Reese’s Pieces?” 

Baran crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “So, as one of the Council members, I am doing my official duty and checking on you.” 

I blushed a little. “I'm fine thank you.” 

He nodded. “I just want to let you know that stuff like that, it never really happens around here.” 

I looked down at my feet. “I am guessing Aiden mentioned I had a minor freak out twice?” 

Baran snorted. “He may have mentioned something in passing. However, I have done my official duty so you should go dress down.” 

I nodded and started for the door, but I paused and looked at him. “So Sammy mentioned that the Council wants to talk to me. Would this be considered the talk?” 

Baran rolled his eyes and pushed the door opened. “Hardly. Now go dress down Green Eyes. Late is still late in my book.” 

I ran to the locker room, changed into my gym clothes (which had been washed and put back into my locker, go figure that one out). After I was changed, I ran down to the gym floor, just in time to jump in to the Suicide Run that had been set up. We ran for about 20 minutes before Baran finally blew his whistle and let us drop to the ground. 

Mack was bent down on her hands and knees taking slow deep breathes, she looked like she was trying not pass out. Baran looked at us and shook his head, he looked like he was fighting back laughter. He turned his head and looked at Sammy who wasn't laughing, but he had a smirk on his face that meant he sure wanted to. 

"Help me hand out the water Sammy, before I get yelled at for being a slave driver again." Baran said. Sammy nodded and ran off to the small ice chest that stood in the corner. He brought out the bottles of water and started passing them out. 

Baran circled around us, nudging us with his foot, I guess to make sure we were still alive. He finally got to Mack who was looking less likely to pass out. He grinned a little as he handed her the bottle of water. "Ready for round two?"

 

Mack took the water from Baran and glared a little at him. I had never seen Mack really glare at anyone, it was pretty interesting. 

After she took a drink from the bottle, she smirked at him and said. "You know sir, there is this saying: The student eventually surpasses the teacher." 

Baran laughed and pulled her up. "I look forward to the day you can take me down Mack my girl.” 

"Ha, I never said it was going to be me, I was just giving you fair warning. Sooner or later, one of your students will be able to take you down. And when that day happens, I want you or Sammy to call me so that I can congratulate the hell out of that person. And then go and celebrate." 

Baran shook his head as he looked at Mack "You know that's why I like you. You got spunk. I don't think it will help you for round two, but I like that.” 

He blew his whistle again. “Up on your feet and go into the bridge position.” I groaned as I got into line with everyone else and flipped backwards. 

Baran walked behind us (since our heads were down) as he spoke. “As most of you know, there was a Vampire attack this weekend on one of the students. I will reiterate that the student’s name is not being released. So if you hear anything, you better forget what you heard. But, since this happened, I decided it’s time to amp up my training. So for the time being, you are all going to stay in the bridge position until I blow my whistle.” 

Mack snorted from her spot next to me, “Easy.”

He was upside down to me, but managed to smirk at Mack. “Easy? Well, then we must change that way of thinking. Sammy?” 

There was a loud clank of metal hitting the ground. Baran disappeared and then came back with a large silver circle in his hand. “Anyone know what this thing is?”

One of the other students, Trevor said. “It’s a weight plate, used for weight lifting.” 

Baran smiled, “Very good Trevor. It is indeed a Weight Plate. So, as Mack said, staying in your bridge position is easy. But what if I were to add 10 pound weight to you, would it still be easy Mack?” 

“Probably.” 

He laughed. “Probably? Well then, let’s find out.” 

There was soft grunts as the weights were placed on our stomach/abdomen area. “That is 10 lbs. you are currently holding. Let’s see how long you can stay on your feet. But as a warning, if you feel the need to fall, please say something before you do. I hate paperwork.”

Mack grunted next to me. “Apparently he hates us too.” 

I sighed softly, keeping my hands close to my head. “Well its only 10 lbs.” 

Paige sighed softly. “Yeah don't say that too loud.” 

We stayed in the bridge position for almost a half hour. Two kids timed out, but Mack, Paige, Mari and I stayed standing. Baran walked behind us again. “Well, well we have eight of you left. Let’s up the ante. Sammy!” 

I let out a low groan as another weight was added. Baran smirked. “You now are holding 20 lbs. Let’s see if we can keep this trend going.” I shifted my body so the weights were more evenly distributed, Paige turned her head to look at me. “You know, my mother is great. Such a wise choice to send me to such a lovely school.” 

“I know, I must remember to thank Elizabeth next time I see her.” 

Mack snorted. “Come on you two, we are doing ok.” 

I sighed. “For now.” 

20 minutes later, four more kids dropped, leaving just the four of us. Baran added another weight to us. 

“Are we almost done?” I groaned under the 30 lbs. of weight. 

He nodded. “Yup, getting close. Doing good girls, keep it up.” 

I yelped a little when he put his foot against the weight and pressed down. “Huh good job Green Eyes, keep holding.” He did the same to Mack and Paige, Mack pressed down a little, but didn't fall. Paige stayed up, I am not sure how though since her arms were buckling a little. “Well Sassy mouth and Reese’s Pieces here seem to be able to keep up.” 

Mack sighed softly. “Great, can we actually GET up?” 

Baran chuckled. “Nope, not yet. Keep going.” 

Mari tapped out soon after that, Mack fell just after that and Paige went after her. As my reward for being able to stay up the longest, Baran put another weight on me. 

I thought class would never end. When the bell finally rang, Baran took the weights off and helped me stand up. “40 lbs. I have never seen that. Most of the kids I have taught buckle way before that. Good job Green Eyes.” 

I wasn't sure if I should thank him, so I just nodded and then limped up the ramp. 

I met Mack and Paige at the top. “Why is it that when we leave this glass we are always limping?” I asked the two of them. 

Paige shrugged. “Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he tortures us for kicks.” 

Mack smirked a little. “Sarcastic twice in one day? Who are you and what have you done with Paige?” 

She laughed and then winced. “Don't do that, laughing hurts.”


	11. Chapter 11

After we got back to the dorm, I took a fast shower and flopped on the couch in my pajamas. Mack and Paige bounced back enough to go and get dinner, but I said I was not hungry. Once they were out of the room, I stretched out on the couch, content to just veg out on the couch. I also owed a phone call to Taylor. I had been on the island for 2 weeks and gone from Tennessee for 3 weeks, I REALLY owed her an explanation. 

I quickly dialed her number and listened as her ring back tone played. The song stopped when she answered. “Well, well, look who finally has decided to call me.” 

I winced a little as I heard the hurt under the sarcastic words but nothing I could do but try and explain. “Hey Tay.” 

“Don't you ‘Hey Tay’ me! I haven't heard from you in forever! I thought your plane went down over the ocean!” 

“Well, um, it was a train.” 

“I don't care if it was a flying hippo! You should have called me Amaia.” 

I took a breath. “Your right Taylor. I should have called you and I am sorry.” 

She took a breath and let it out. “I am sorry for...wigging out on you.” 

“It’s ok, if anyone deserves to flip a wig it’s you.” 

She giggled softly in my ear. “So how is the Island?” 

I shrugged even though she couldn't see me. “It’s good so far. School is different for sure, but I am getting used to it.” 

“Any cute boys hanging around?” 

“I really haven't looked I-”

“Come on, spill I know that tone of voice.” 

“What tone of voice?” 

“The one that says: There is a hot guy I have my eye on, but I am not spilling because I suck as a friend.” 

I leaned against the top of the couch and laughed. “No seriously, there is no guy Tay. There has not been time.” I ran down everything I had been doing, leaving out Vampires, Council, and every other weird thing that had happened. As a result, we mostly talked about school stuff. 

“Wow, Baran sounds like a huge ass. How do you cope?”

“Well it’s not too bad. I have my roomies in there with me and that makes it a little easier.” 

“Well, that’s good I guess.” 

The silence filled the airwaves and I thought back the conversation Mama and I had at Elizabeth’s, we can't go back to the way things were. 

“So how are things your way?” 

She sighed softly. “They are ok. I got my cast off and I am doing exercises to strengthen it. School is SUPER boring without you in it. I am about ready to switch to just doing online because the physical campus holds no interest for me now.” 

I rolled my eyes. “Alright Drama Queen, no one is offering an Oscar for that performance.” 

She laughed softly and then yawned. When I glanced at the time, I realized she was 2 hours ahead of me. “Tay, I should let you go. You have school either way tomorrow.” 

“Yeah, I'm glad you called me Mai. Really. I miss you.” 

I sighed softly. “I miss you too.” 

We said good-bye and I fell back on the couch. I did miss Taylor. But, if I was being honest with myself, truly honest, I just missed the idea of her. The idea of someone knowing you inside and out, knowing your moods and being in tune with them. Knowing hideous secrets about each other. 

I know she missed that too. But the difference between us was, I was making new friends. And we were probably all going to bond deeper than normal best friends, nothing like being freaks of nature to bind you closer together. And if I wanted to keep being honest with myself, Taylor was part of my old world. Sometimes doors closed on the old world to make the new world better. 

“Well I am depressed now.” I said to myself as I sat up. “I need a cookie.” 

I had just managed to pull myself to my feet when there was a knock on the door. I limped over to the door, my stomach muscles screaming. I asked who it was and a voice called back. “Sammy.” 

I opened the door and smiled at him, then glanced down and saw what he had in his hands. “Oh please tell me you are a prince among toads and that plate of food is for me.” 

He smiled at me. “Mack made me bring it up. I had to talk to you anyway. But I thought you weren't hungry.” 

I took the plate and walked into the room. Sammy followed behind me. “I wasn't hungry. But now I am. Your dad sure puts people through the paces.” 

“Well, I think he just wants everyone to be safe.” I sat down, taking a bite of the meatloaf on the plate. “So what do I owe the visit?” 

Sammy sat down next to me. “Council wants to meet up with you tomorrow. I'm supposed to walk you over.” 

I frowned and stabbed at my peas. “Are they worried about Vampires still?” 

“No, but you still have to follow the rules that they laid out for you.” 

I huffed softly. “What time tomorrow?”

He shrugged. “Probably after dinner.” 

“Where are we walking to? 

“My place.” He said as he stole a piece of the roll that was on my plate. 

“Why not go down to the auditorium we were in before.” 

He shrugged. “Well, my house serves as a secondary location. The first location is for large groups. When they are dealing with one-on-one, they like to keep things simple.” 

I said nothing, but took another bite of meatloaf. That made sense, but I still felt like Sammy had left out a lot of information. I was about to tell him so when the girls came back into the room. Mack plopped down next to Sammy while Paige went into the bathroom. I wasn't sure, but it looked like she had food streaks on her. 

“What happened to Paige?” 

Mack stole a bite of meatloaf. “She had a run in with a food fight that broke out between some purples. She tried to stop it and…that happened to her.” 

I handed the plate to Sammy so he and Mack could finish demolishing it. “I miss everything.” 

“That is what you get for skipping dinner.” 

I rolled my eyes. “I could barely move, I am surprised you guys could.” 

Mack waved her hand. “Muscle memory. I am a former gymnast.” 

“Oh shut up.” I muttered under my breath. 

Sammy stood up. “Well, if this is going to cause a fight, I am off. Mai, I will see you tomorrow after dinner.” 

He waved and then walked out the door. I sighed softly and leaned back in the couch and looked over at Mack. She had a funny expression on her face, like she was upset but didn't know why. “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. Why are you going out with Sammy?” 

I blinked. “I'm not.” 

“Then why are you going to see him tomorrow after dinner?” 

I smiled. “Oh. No no, that has to do with meeting the Council. It’s going to be at his house, so he is walking me down.” 

She opened and closed her mouth a few times, stood up and said. “I'm going to bed.” As she walked to the bedroom door, she mumbled something about girly moment. I shook my head and flipped on the TV as Paige came out of the bathroom. “Rotten kids.” She muttered. 

I smiled at her. “You look better.” 

She sighed. “I like it better when its lunch time and those…things are on their own lunch time.” 

“I'm guessing being pelted with food is not high on your list of fun activities.” 

She shook her head. “I don't think the laundry people are going to be able to get the stains out of those clothes. They might have to burn them.” 

“Well if they are House Elves, the stains will come out.” 

Paige rolled her eyes and smacked me with a pillow. “You read too much.” 

I laughed and leaned into the couch a little bit. “I don't know if getting up and going to my bed is worth the energy.” 

Paige yawned. “Set your alarm and stay out here. There is blankets and pillow.” 

“I think I will.” 

She stood up. “Well I am going to bed. It’s been a long day.” She waved at me and disappeared into the bedroom. 

I stretched out on the couch, wondered if it was worth getting up to go to bed, and that was my last thought before I fell asleep. 

The next day passed quickly. Well, to me it did. Since Paige’s mom was due to arrive on Island late that night, Paige was bouncing around like Tigger who had downed 20 Red Bulls. It got her into trouble at Baran’s class, he made her run suicides by herself while the rest of us did stances since Baran said Hand to hand was in our near future.

After we were done, since we had an hour left, he had us work on tumbling. As a treat though, (and trust me, none of us said this out loud), he let us play some music on his ancient stereo. We chose Katy Perry because she was less whiny on her CDs about ex-boyfriends. Plus, doing our tumbling exercises to Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) was way more fun than doing it to Mean. 

After Baran’s class was over, we stumbled back to the dorm. I noticed I wasn't nearly as tired as I had been the previous week, or even the day before. I told Mack as much when she flopped down next to me on the couch while Paige stared out the window. She shrugged at me. 

“Muscle Memory, seems you are developing some girly girl.” She poked me in the side and I smacked her on the leg. She laughed and rolled her eyes at me. “Diva.” 

I looked over at Paige and sighed softly. “So what time does her flight get in?” 

She looked down at what I was calling her Uber Cell phone. “Charles Schulz-Sonoma Airport is saying her flight is a little slowed down, she was late getting out of Arizona. She should be landing in about 45 minutes. Then…” She tapped the screen. “Looks like she is going to be picked up and driven to Fort Bragg’s little airport which will take 2 hours and then the Helicopter ride over which will take a half hour. And then she will be here.” 

Mack sat up from the couch. “There is an airport named after the Peanuts guy?” 

Paige nodded and turned to look at us. “Yup, he lived in Santa Rosa, where the airport is, for 30 years. Their logo is Snoopy as the World War II Flying Ace.” 

I started cracking up over that one. It was hard to picture a huge airport, with millions of travelers a day, with a logo of a dog flying his doghouse and wearing goggles. Mack must have realized what I was thinking because she started cracking up too. Paige rolled her eyes at us and then sat down on the couch next to Mack. “Does your mom know about the change? I know she was supposed to come in through Sacramento.” 

I shrugged, “I should find out I guess before she gets on the plane.” 

Mack smirked. “Might be a good idea. Plus, you can tell her how you got hysterical over the fact that the Dhampir Council has more money than God.” 

I rolled my eyes. “I am trying to figure out why I like you.” I mumbled as I pulled out my phone. 

Mack nudged my shoulder. “My sparkling personality and stunning good looks.” 

“Yeah something like that.” I scooted away from the nudging shoulder and tapped in a fast text. “Did u know about the flight change? You are going to Santa Rosa, not Sacramento.” 

The phone chimed a few seconds later with Mama’s answer. “Elizabeth sent me the details when I got the package she sent. Package is going to be coming with me.” 

I frowned a little and typed. “Package is coming with? What was in there, hand grenades?”

The phone chimed back. “U will c when I get there on Friday. I love you!” 

I texted back, “I love you too.”

I clicked off my phone and sighed. “She got the message. She said she would see me on Friday.” I leaned back against the couch and rubbed my forehead. 

Mack frowned at me, “What’s wrong?” 

I shrugged and fiddled with my phone. She rolled her eyes. “You need to cheer up, it’s not like you are going before a firing squad or anything.” 

I huffed and fell back against the couch. “Says you. How do I know that is not what I am actually walking into?” 

Mack rolled her eyes again and flopped back next to me. “I doubt Sammy would walk you down there like a lamb to slaughter if he knew something was up.” 

“Maybe no one told him.” 

Paige tugged on my hair, almost playfully. “Maybe you are just being paranoid because going in front of the Council is intimidating. But I mean, if they wanted to kill you, they would have already don't you think.” 

I blew out a breath and got off the couch. “I am going to stay in and wait for Sammy.” 

Mack stood up too. “You aren't going to eat dinner?” 

I shook my head. “I'll grab something after I meet with them. I don't think it would be a good first impression to barf all over them.” 

Mack shook her head. “Well, if you're sure.” 

I nodded my head. “I am sure. I will send him a text letting him know I am here not there.”

Mack smiled at me. “You know, I have never seen him eat there.”

Paige smiled a little. “Maybe he and his dad use that time to come up with more torture for us.” 

Mack rolled her eyes, grabbed Paige’s arm and hustled her out the door. Once they were gone, I rooted through the walk-in closet, trying to figure out what to wear. I finally picked a blue blouse (to represent my color group), and my black dress pants. Once I had changed, I went out to the sitting room and started working on my homework. I was about halfway through Miss Hilbert’s math homework when there was a knock on the door. I stood up and walked to the door. Sammy grinned at me when I opened it. “Aw, did you dress up for me?” 

I decided to play along so I batted my eyes and turned on the southern accent. “Why yes I did darlin' do you like my outfit?" I did a little spin. We both laughed. "Let me get my purse then we can go." 

I ran back to the room, slid on my black flats, grabbed my purse and went back to the door. Sammy grinned at me as I shut and locked the door. 

“What?” 

He shrugged as we walked to the stairs. “Why do girls carry purses?” 

“It's one of those female things that as a male you will never understand.” 

He chuckled as we walked to the lobby and out the door. “You know, technically I am breaking the rules.” I told him

“Why is that?” 

I smiled as we stepped out of the main doors. “I am going off campus after dark.”

Sammy shrugged. “You are with me, and you are going to see the Council, so I think the rules can be bent a little.” 

We walked down the path towards the outcropping of houses on the edge of the cliff about 10 feet away from the school. “Well I guess this explains why we never see you at lunch time.”

He smiled at me. “Yup, home cooking all the way for me.” 

“I am surprised Aiden isn't here too. Usually I am tripping over him.” 

He chuckled as we moved closer to the houses. “Aiden wanted to come, but my dad vetoed it.” 

“Why is that?” 

Sammy shrugged “I don't know, maybe he feels like Aiden doesn't have to dog your every step. Or maybe the Council wants to ask you some serious questions without him running interference over everything. Maybe this Council thing is just a ruse and he wants to seduce you over wine.” 

“Sammy, now you are just being gross.”

He laughed and led me the first house on the left. “I'm just trying to get you to loosen up.” 

I rolled my eyes. “I am plenty loose.” 

“Yeah ok.” He opened the front door and walked me inside.

The TV was playing in the living room to our left while two voices argued over something. Someone was banging pots in the kitchen on the right where some amazing smells were coming from. The source of the noise and the smell stepped out into the hallway. 

It was a tall woman with the trademark Dhampir dark eyes and hair. She smiled at the two of us. “Hello, you must be Amaia. I'm Vickie.” She jerked her head towards the living room. “I told you girls to knock that arguing off! This is the last warning, next one is getting sent to your rooms for the evening!” She turned back to me and smiled again as the noise tapered off in the living room. 

“Sorry about that. Come on into the kitchen, Baran is in the Den, he is waiting for one more person to show up and then he will come get you.” 

“Thank you.” 

Sammy and I followed her into the kitchen where Sammy plucked a few rigatoni from the pot of boiling water on the stove. He hissed as the noodles scalded his fingertips, but he plopped them onto his tongue, keeping his mouth open until they'd cooled. Then he chewed fast. “Hot Hot Hot!” He muttered around the chewing. 

Vickie rolled her eyes and pushed him away. “You wouldn't burn your tongue if you wouldn't eat things straight from the pot. Goofy.” I sat down on one of the barstools that was set up in front of a long bar that attached to the stove area and watched Vickie move around the kitchen. She handed me some vegetables. “Here, will you cut these up for me?” 

I nodded and started slicing. Sammy was handed cutlery and told to set the table. I was in the middle of chopping a carrot when Baran appeared. “Green Eyes, I see my wife put you to work.” 

I nodded my head. “She asked nicely.” 

He huffed out a laugh. “Are you saying I don't ask nicely?” 

I just smiled and shook my head. “I plead the fifth.” 

He chuckled. “Come on back, this won't take long and then I will have Sammy walk you home.” 

I slid off the barstool and followed him through the door off of the kitchen. It led into a small den where 4 of the council members were sitting on a brown leather couch. I recognized everyone, but Kendra was the only I could remember the name of. Baran directed me to a chair that was in front of them and then leaned against his desk. “So, introductions need to be made. Kendra is our school official, Diana is our Vampire expert, Jim reports to the Twins and you know who I am. We called you here to get information on the Vampire attack.” 

I cleared my throat. “I-I really can't give all that much information.” 

Baran smiled at me, I would have found it calming if it wasn't Baran doing it. “Try.” 

I cleared my throat. “Well I was out eating dinner on the outside patio…..”

 

45 minutes later, Baran shut the door behind Amaia and Sammy. He walked into the kitchen and leaned against the counter watching Vickie put the finishing touches on dinner. “You are so lucky that baked rigatoni takes forever to do.” She said as she pulled the pan out of the oven. She pulled off her oven mitts and looked at him. “What is the conclusion?” 

He shrugged as he took a fork and scooped up a small part of the cooling pasta. “She didn't deviate from her story.” 

Vickie rolled her eyes and smacked his hand. “Get away from that. Not that you expected her to do so anyway, you guys know she is not in cahoots with anyone. She is a 15 year old child.” 

Baran rolled his eyes. “You know as well as I do, that a 15 year old child is capable of anything.” 

Vickie leaned against the counter, “Not this 15 year old child.” 

Baran chuckled and opened the fridge and pulled out a beer. “It just so happens that I agree, and so does everyone else.” He took a sip of the beer and turned back to her. “However, we are going to be watching a little closer than we were. Something has been rattled in the nests.” 

 

When I got back to the door, Paige was bouncing off the walls, she looked like a Mexican Jumping Bean. 

“What is going on?” I asked as I sat down on the couch. 

Mack rolled her eyes. “Apparently, the Council has decided at the last minute to keep her mom at Fort Bragg until your mom’s plane gets in.”

“So they are going to be sitting around until Friday night?” 

“Actually, what Paige’s mom said is that your mom will actually be in tomorrow morning?” 

“Wait what? I need to call her and find out what is going on.” 

I went into the bedroom and pressed in the familiar phone number. Her ring back tone sang cheerfully in my ear until Mama answered with a breathless hello. 

“Hey Mama!”

“Oh good baby, I was hoping I would get a chance to call you before I got in the air.”

“The air? What is going on?” 

“Well, I got a call this morning from someone named Lydia. She said the Council was bumping up my flight to a Red-eye flying out tonight.” 

I vaguely recalled that Lydia was part of the team of locating Dhampirs. “Yeah but why?” 

“She didn't say, I didn't ask. My flight leaves in a couple of hours, and I should land by about 5:00 am. Then I am going to be picked up at the airport, brought to Fort Bragg and then be on island probably sometime tomorrow afternoon. 

“Wow, I can come and see you after school.” 

“I hope you do, it’s been awhile since I have hugged my baby.” 

“I can't wait to see you Mama.” 

“Me too baby.” We said goodbye and I danced out to the sitting room, joining Paige in her bouncing around. 

Mack declared us both idiots and went to bed. 

 

The next morning I could understand why Paige had been bouncing off the walls the day before, my Mama was in town. She sent me a text in Miss Hilbert’s class and let me know she was in. She said she would see me after school because she wanted to take a LONG nap. Which killed my plan to ditch the rest of the day and go see her. So I was pretty mopey for the rest of the day. 

Finally, FINALLY the day ended, I almost kissed Baran when he let us go a little bit early. And nearly ran over the top of everyone else to get up the locker room and change. Once I was changed, I darted outside of the gym and went up to the dorm to drop off my backpack and change into my jeans. As I was doing so, Mack came into the room. 

“So have you figured out how you are going to get to town?” 

I paused in zipping up my jeans and blinked my eyes. Paige ran into the room panting as she tossed down her bag and started toeing off her shoes. She looked at the two of us and stopped mid pull on her left shoe. “What’s wrong?” 

I sat on the bed. “Mack just pointed out a problem. How are we getting to town?” 

Paige blinked and sat on the bed. “I forgot to ask someone to take us. You?”

I shook my head. “I didn't think that far.” 

Paige sighed heavily. “You know, town is not that far away, and it stays light pretty long, maybe we can walk.” 

“It’s not that far by car.” I said. “But walking will probably be another story.” 

Paige sighed softly. “Yeah, so ideas?” 

“I could drive you.” A voice from the doorway said. I jumped a foot and turned to look at Aiden who was leaning against the doorjamb. 

Mack scowled at him. “Vampy, don't you know how to knock?” 

“Not in the slightest.” 

Mack snorted. “You should learn.” 

Aiden rolled his eyes. “I am here to escort Paige and Amaia to see their moms. Mack if you want to come, you can.” 

She shook her head. “No thanks, I am going to veg out and see if I can catch a Supernatural rerun.” 

I tilted my head and stared at her. “You are a Dhampir that likes Supernatural?” 

She nodded. “Yes.” 

“Well, I would think that what you have going is strange enough.” 

“Never underestimate the power of a pretty face.” 

I rolled my eyes, finished getting dressed and followed Paige and Aiden down to his car. It was a blue Ford Focus that shone like a sapphire in the setting sun. “Fancy, where did you get it?” 

He smiled and opened the driver’s door and slid in. “My Sire, sent it to me. Well, he sent me the money to get it from the dealership in town. He said I should have my own transportation.” 

“Is your Sire like your dad?” I asked as we got into the car. 

 

Aiden shrugged and looked back at Paige. “Seatbelts. And I guess, to a degree. He created me, made me the man I am today. But we don't share any genes if that is what you are asking.” 

It wasn't really what I was asking, but I couldn't really form the right question to ask what I really wanted to know. Oh well, maybe another time. Aiden drove down the same cliff side road that Sammy drove to take us to town. He turned a little earlier than Sammy had to take us downtown and instead drove down a tree lined street. It was the typical suburb, with people sitting on porches and mowing lawns, the whole landscape was surrounded with trees. He stopped in front of a white duplex and stopped the car. “Amaia, your mom is on the right, Paige your mom is on the left.” I was far too excited to ask him how he knew where they were and instead, leapt out of the car and ran to the right side of the Duplex. As I went up the concrete steps, I almost fell over a familiar black form. I blinked my eyes and stared at Mouser. “What are you doing here?” I asked the cat who started to lick his paw.

I turned as the door opened and grinned when I spotted Mama and threw myself into her arms. She hugged me tight and kissed all over my face. “Oh sweetheart, I missed you! Come in.” She grabbed my arm and drug me into the apartment. Boxes littered the small living room area and kitchen area, along with suitcases. Max was sitting on the counter, snoozing in the patch of sunlight. I looked at Mama as she moved around me to the fridge. “Why are Mouser and Max here?” 

“Maisie is here too.” 

“Ok why?” 

“They were in the package Elizabeth sent me. Along with a few other things.” 

“Did she say why?” I asked as she handed me a cold soda. 

“All the letter said is she couldn't take them with her and there was no one to care for them. They seem to be settling well.” 

“What else did the letter say?” I asked as I sipped my soda. 

“Just that she wanted me to take the cats and be safe. She said she would contact me when it was safe. But don't worry about all that.” She pulled me over to the couch and sat down. “Tell me everything.” 

I smiled and settled against the couch and told her everything that had been going on. She stared me with her huge brown eyes as I wound down. When I was done and reached out and hugged her again. “Oh Mama, I missed you so much.” 

She kissed the top of my head and pulled back putting her hand on my cheek. “I missed you too baby. How did things go with the Council?” 

I shrugged. “Ok, I guess. They seemed friendly enough, I got to meet Sammy’s mom which was cool. How did you like Darby?” 

Mama grimaced. “She is quite perky and happy.” 

I laughed and then frowned when my phone chimed. I pulled it out and looked down at the text form Aiden. “Almost dinner time, got 2 get back.” 

I blew out a breath. “Well I guess I have to get going. Part of the rules is I am not supposed to be off campus after dark.” 

“Well, I might have to talk to someone. Laura and I wanted to take you guys out for dinner on Friday.”

“I am sure if Aiden comes it will be fine. I wanted you to meet him anyway.” 

She turned her body a little. “Who is Aiden exactly?” 

I sighed and told her about the Vampire that stalked me. She listened to me, and I could tell she was amused by my ranting. 

“Well, sounds like I should meet Aiden. After all, it’s not often I meet my daughter’s boyfriend.” 

I gasped and shook my head. “He is NOT my boyfriend. He is an idiot Vampire who has made it his mission in life to follow me around like a puppy. I'm surprised he hasn't followed me into the bathroom.” 

She gave me a total mom look that pretty much called bullshit. I was about to protest again, but my phone chimed again. “I gotta go, walk me out?” 

She stood up and wrapped her arm around my shoulder and walked me to the door. She gave me a hug and kiss on the cheek. “Come and visit your old mother alright?” 

I nodded my head. “I wish I could come and live with you.” 

She shook her head. “We have been over this, it’s safer if you stay at school. I am not that far away you know.” She tapped her finger against my necklace. “Still wearing it?” 

I smiled and poked at hers. “Yours too.” Mama laughed and gave me another hug and kiss. “Get out of here already. I need to get my own dinner.” 

I ran down the sidewalk and got into the car. I stared out the window at her, waving until we went around the corner and she disappeared. I sighed and leaned against the seat. 

“How did the visit go?” asked Aiden. 

“It was good. Do you think we could get cleared to go out on Friday night?” 

Aiden shrugged. “I don't know, why?” 

I smiled in the most evil way I could. “I want to take you home to Mama.” 

Paige started giggling in the back seat and I joined her as Aiden glared at the two of us.


	12. Chapter 12

Friday passed slowly. Really slowly. SO slowly! I wanted to pull my hair out by lunchtime. Mack spent most of Science class and Math class poking me in the side so I would at least ACT like I was paying attention. 

When we got to lunch, I sat down at the table, not wanting anything to eat. Aiden wandered over and sat next to me, glancing down at my empty plate. “Wow that is a lot for one plate, you should totally eat that slowly. You don't want to choke or anything.” 

I gave him withering look and stared at his own empty plate. He shrugged. “I have an excuse. It’s not one of my eating days.” 

I blew out a breath. “Ok seriously, what is the deal with you?” 

He quirked an eyebrow at me. “What?” 

“You have days where you do things, but days where you don't?” 

He smiled at me. “I shouldn't tell, it will ruin the surprise of what you learn in Vampire class.” 

I leaned my elbow on the table and smiled at him. “Tell me, have you ever seen the movie, Mommie Dearest?” 

Aiden rolled his eyes. “Are you going to attack me with wire hangers while screaming like a deranged woman?” 

“Keep pushing my buttons and I just might.” 

He laughed and took a sip from his mug. “Ok, so you know Vampires have 3 stages of age so to speak.” 

I nodded. We had discussed that on the train as well as in class. 

“So, Liber, which are the babies of the group, they have to have blood all the time. Novus, which is what I am, we have a more…flexible sleep pattern and eating schedule. We don't have to have human food, but we can. We don't have to sleep but we can. And it’s good for us to do both. Helps keep us strong. Being a Vir is the last stage you can go into. It's the stage where we need less red liquid our diet because our control is better but we still need it and we still eat when and if we want. But since you are not a Vampire, I am encouraging you to eat something.” 

“I am a Dhampir.” 

“And in need of nutrition to keep yourself healthy and strong. So you should eat.” 

I looked over at him. “And why, pray tell, are you SO concerned with my health and/or well-being?” 

Aiden shrugged and sipped his drink. “I don't really know, cause you're my bestie?” 

I rolled my eyes and got up from the table. I went to the salad bar, got a plate of veggies and walked back to the table. Mack and Paige were just sitting down, I sat back down next to Aiden and looked at him as I bit into my carrot. He rolled his eyes. 

“Better, but not by much.” 

Mack shook her head. “Vampy, are you harassing Amaia again?” 

He shrugged and sipped from his mug. “She eats like a bird. How does she expect to take down a Vampire if she is all skin and bones?” 

Mack took a bite of her hamburger, a little bit of red juice dripping across her fingers. “Seems like she did a good job the other night.” 

Aiden said nothing, just grumbled into his mug. I looked at Mack, smiled and mouthed the words: Thank you. 

Paige offered me some of the food on her tray but I shook my head. “I'm just not in an eating mood today. Probably tonight though.” 

Paige nodded. “I know the feeling, I'm chomping at the bit too.”

“I wish we could ditch class.” 

She sighed heavily. “That would leave us with no ride since if anyone ditched with us, there would be talk about where we went and with who. Plus, if we miss Baran’s class, he might hunt us down.” 

I rolled my eyes and took one of Paige’s French fries. “God forbid we go up against Baran.” 

She giggled and took a bite of her chicken. Someone cleared their throat and we all looked up to see Mari standing there. She gave us a small smile. “Um, can I sit with you guys?” 

I paused my nibbling on the French fry and looked at the other girls. Paige had her typical, open smile, but Mack looked a little more guarded; but she finally set down her hamburger and nodded. “Please.” 

Mari smiled. “Thanks! I didn't want to just barge over and sit down.” She plopped down next to Aiden and smiled at him. “Hey.” 

He smiled back, “Uh hey. Um, I have to go. So I will see you ladies later.” He stood up fast and almost took off running. 

Mari looked after him, a confused look on her face. “Was it something I said?” 

I shook my head. “I am sure he just had something he needed to do.” I stabbed my veggies. He probably had to go meet with Taylor in some dark corner. 

Mari started chatting with Mack, which I caught bits and pieces of, my mind was not on the conversation, but mentally bashing Aiden. It was a relief when the bell finally chimed to signal our next class, although between wanting to see my Mama and Aiden, I checked out for most of them. 

I only came back to myself when I walked through the double doors to the gym and saw a sign pointing towards the small office area I saw on the first day that said: Defense Class Meet there. I turned and walked towards the office to see most of everyone else perched around the room on chairs. I walked in and slid in next to Mack, I leaned over and whispered. “What is going on?” 

She shrugged and whispered back. “No idea, I just followed the sign.” 

I pressed my hand to my mouth to hide my giggles. Baran stepped into the office from the back and smiled at us. “Well, apparently your reading skills are up to snuff. So, let’s see how your walking skills are. Follow me.” 

We all stood up and followed him into what was an adjoining classroom. He pointed to the desks. “Sit.” 

We all sat down fast and he moved in front of the white board and looked at us. “So, for the past 2 weeks, I have been training your core. Dhampirs are made for speed and strength, some more than others.” He flicked his eyes to me. “But that is nothing if your core strength and energy is not built up. So now that I have put you through the wringer and you are a lot stronger than you were when you first started and have more stamina. Now it’s time to move on to the next phase of training. Hand-to-hand Combat.” 

Trevor raised his hand. “Are we going to be using weapons?” 

Baran smirked. “Weapons are for when you have mastered hand to hand. For now.” He turned to the white board. “Who can tell me what Hand-to-Hand Combat is?” 

A few kids answered, but for the most part, they only gave partial answers. Baran flicked his eyes over to Mack who was sitting in front of me. “Sassy, you look like you know.” 

I didn't have to see her to know she was smirking. “Shall I enlighten you?” 

He smiled at her, almost in a feral way. “Please.” 

Mack cleared her throat. “Well by definition, Hand-to-hand is a lethal or non-lethal physical confrontation between two or more persons at very short range that does not involve the use of firearms or other distance weapons. While the phrase "hand-to-hand" appears to refer to unarmed combat, the term is generic and may include use of striking weapons such as knives, sticks, batons, or improvised weapons such as entrenching tools. Hand-to-hand combat training may incorporate eclectic techniques from several different martial arts and combat sports.” 

Baran nodded, his face serious. “You have hit the nail on the head. So, everyone stand up, let’s go down to the floor and practice some Hand-to-Hand.” 

For an hour we practiced. Baran seemed impressed with our learning and decided to pair us up to test each other. He had me go up against Mari. “Ok, now. This is going to be a test exercise. You will stop when you hear my whistle. If one person keeps going after I blow the whistle, you will be running suicides until you throw up. Ready, set, go!” 

Baran blew his whistle, Mari and I circled each other. I was watching for any weakness I could exploit. I noticed that she was favoring her left leg. I pivoted and swept low to knock her leg out, but she was ready for it and fell backwards into a back flip. She pushed to her feet and smiled at me. I heard Baran shout out. “Come on Green Eyes, use your head.” 

I took a breath faked to the left and then rolled forward into a somersault. Using my momentum, I kicked my legs up and shoved my feet against her chest. Mari fell backwards and I bounced to my feet. She pressed her hands above her head and jumped to her feet. When she looked at me, she was not smiling anymore, the look on her face wasn't a hateful one, it was almost…daring. 

She rubbed her hand over face and curled her hands into fists. “You're going down.” 

She threw herself at me and brought her hand up to deliver a side swipe to my face. I used the block technique Baran had showed us, grabbed her arm and using her own force, flipped her over my shoulder and onto the mat. I took a step back, but she was on her feet fast. She leapt up and tackled me to the floor and started punching me. I grabbed her shoulder, flipped her over my head so she landed on her back and then I rolled backwards on top of her and clinched my legs around her waist to hold her still. 

Mari grabbed my hair that was hanging down and yanked it with all of her might. I let out a cry and rolled to my back. She rolled on top of me still holding my hair. She used my hair to smack my head against the mat a few times. I kicked my legs up again and knocked her over and then jumped to my feet. I looked over at Baran hoping he would blow the damn whistle already, but he just looked at me, a smirk on his face. Using my distraction, Mari tackled me to the ground again. In a flash, she wrapped her hands around my neck and started to squeeze. I gasped and clawed at her clasping fingers kicking my legs out, trying to knock her off. 

The sudden shrill bleat of the whistle filled the air. Mari still didn't get up and it felt like an eternity until she was hauled off of me. I pulled myself to my feet and almost fell into Mack and Paige who grabbed me and kept me from falling. Baran had set Mari on her feet. “Well, since you were fighting dirty Mari AND didn't get up when I blew the whistle, you are going to be running suicides. Hit it.” She gave him a look like she was going to argue, thought better of it and ran over to the Suicides area. He walked over where the 3 of us were standing. “Reese, Sassy, don't hold her up. She is not a baby.” When they let me go, he crossed his arms and gave me a long look. “You did well today. Next week, I think I will put you up against Aiden. Now hit the shower, and get some ice for your face.” 

After a fast shower (and a look in the mirror), I decided to forego getting ice for my face. The bruises were not that bad, or at least not bad enough that I needed to ice my face when I really needed to finish getting my stuff together. 

We walked out just in time to see Mari heading out the side door. Despite our fatigue, we ran after her. When we got to the long concrete hallway, Mack ran over to Mari near the end of the hall and grabbed her arm. She pushed her against the wall, Paige and I ran over just in time to hear Mack say. “So what the hell was that? Why were you choking out my friend?” 

She frowned a little “Wow skip straight to the bonus question round.”

I crossed my arms. “I could probably press the issue and easily get you thrown out of school, or at least in a hell of a lot of trouble. We are trying to be nice. So why?”

She sighed softly. “When you are a street kid, you learn to fight dirty. Sometimes you don’t know if the person you are going up against is going to beat the shit out of you to get your stuff or kill you to take it. I learned to survive on the street and while I am not PROUD of what I did in the gym, it was just instinct hard learned lessons aren’t easy to let go of. I am sorry about it. Can you guys forgive me?”

She said it to all of us, but she was looking at me. I wanted to think she was lying but those huge brown eyes, so full of pain spoke the truth to me. I sighed softly. “If you ever do that again, I will break your arm off at the elbow.” 

She let out a small laugh. “Warning heard. Thanks.” She gave a small smile then sauntered off to the end of the hall.

Mack, Paige and I went the other way towards the dorms. Mack was talking about how the fight looked on her side. 

“You really were doing well. The strength you were using was amazing. I even heard Baran say wow a few times. Under his breath anyway.”

Paige huffed as we climbed the stairs to our dorm. “I hate that you lost because she choked you at the end. I think you might have had a chance of winning.” 

I stopped at the top of the stairs. “A chance? You mean she was beating me?” 

Paige shrugged. “She definitely has some eye-hand coordination going on for her.”

I groaned softly. “Next time I would like to go up against one of you. Then maybe my face wouldn't throb.” 

A chuckle behind me made me turn and look over at Aiden who was trailing us. I sighed softly. “I'm guessing you are the ride?” 

He nodded. “Sammy was going to, but he had something else he needed to do. So, I volunteered.” 

I rolled my eyes. “Anything to show off the pretty present huh?” 

He growled softly at me. “Don't you have packing to do?” 

I smiled at him. “Yes, I do.” I picked up the pace and got to the room. Most of my stuff was packed already, but there were a few more things I wanted to grab. Paige still had to pack up some stuff. I got to my bed and tossed some stuff into my overnight bag, closed it up and then put my pillow on top. I looked over at Paige who was rolling stuff up and stuffing it into her duffle bag. “Do you want help?” 

She shook her head. “I will be done in 5 seconds.” 

5 MINUTES later, she finally grabbed up her pillow and turned to me. “Ok, I am ready.” 

I didn't say much on the ride to the Duplex, when we finally got there, Mama was out on the porch drinking something. Mouser was sitting next to her licking his paws (I wonder if that's all that cat does. Every time I see him that's all he is doing.) I got out of the car and clutching my bag, ran up to her. She set down her glass and swept me into a hug. “Hey sweet heart! I missed you.” She kissed my cheek and then gave me a long look. “What happened to your face?” 

“Well, it’s a long story.” 

“Well tell me all about it.” 

We walked into the house as I told her about what had happened. She clicked her tongue and shook her head. “Well, I guess that is the hazard of learning how to defend yourself. Do you want some ice?” 

I shook my head. “It doesn't really hurt.” I lied. 

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah ok.” 

“Really, all I want to do is get into my jammies and spend a little time with my Mama.” 

She smiled at me. “Well then, right this way.” 

She walked me down the hall and opened a door to a small room. I smiled as I walked in. It was a small room, but with the windows and white walls, it was very light and opened. A white daybed was pressed against a wall with a familiar Afghan spread out over it. There was no familiar desk or dresser, but there was a closet. I walked over to the bed, set down my overnight bag and picked up the purple, pink and blue Afghan. I wrapped it around me and smiled at Mama. “You brought it.” 

She nodded and walked over rubbing the yarn threads. “I couldn't leave home without it. I almost packed it, but decided to bring it.” 

I plopped it back down on the bed and opened my bag. “Let me change and I will be all yours.” 

Mama nodded and walked out. I changed into my comfy flannel pajama bottoms and a battered t-shirt. Walked out of the room and walked down the hall, Mama was in the living room, fiddling with something against the living room wall. “What are you doing?” I asked. 

She turned and smiled at me. She gave the wall a tug and to my surprise, it slid opened revealing Paige and Laura. Mama smiled. “I thought we could have little party. I know you wanted Mama time, but how about girl time?” 

Paige smiled at me from where she was sitting on her Mama’s couch. “I have Life.” 

I grinned back at her. “Who can resist Life?” 

20 minutes later, we had drug the dining room table in between the two living rooms and set it up with junk food and The Game of Life. I had decided to go to college (and I will let you fill in the Mama jokes yourselves). Paige decided on a career and became an entertainer. Mama and Laura chose careers as well. 

“Guess I am the only genius of the bunch.” I said as flicked the spinner and moved my little red car to pick a career. 

Mama smiled at me and took a sip of her Pepsi. “Well I think the rest of us were just in a hurry to start life.” 

Laura smiled as she move her green car and forked over 20,000 for a skiing accident. “You know that reminds me of this book I loved when I was younger, Tuck Everlasting. One of the best lines in the book was: Do not fear death, but rather the unlived life. You don't have to live forever. You just have to live.” 

“I guess Dhampirs are different.” Paige said as she moved her orange car to buy a house. 

Laura shook her head and nibbled on a pretzel. “All things die love. Even Dhampirs and Vampires. Nothing, absolutely nothing lives forever.” 

“Except legends.” I said and Laura smiled. “Yes, except for legends.” 

Mama smiled. “And the writings of drunk Irishmen.” 

The rest of the game passed with laughter and good cheer. I won by a VERY thin margin, Paige as the Entertainer was right behind me. 

After the game was over, we all walked over to Laura’s side and watched a bunch of horror movies. Afterwards, Mama and I went back to her side to head for bed. As she closed the wall, I slid down on the couch. “It’s so strange. Just a few weeks ago, we were mother and daughter. And now I feel like we are friends.” 

Mama flopped down next to me. “Well, we have both had our worlds flipped upside down. And I think that changes the way we look at things. Plus, we are not living together, so that makes things a little more relaxed. But don't get any cute ideas, I am still your Mama and I am in town now, I can't leave it to the school the discipline you. 

I smiled at her and leaned my head against her shoulder. She rubbed her cheek against my head “So, do I get to meet Aiden this weekend?” 

I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess, I mean if you want to. I know I said dinner would be good, but I mean you don’t HAVE to I mean…” 

Mama laughed and shook her head. “Baby, you are being silly. Now come on, let’s get to bed. I want to walk to town tomorrow and see about getting a car.” 

I huffed out a breath and stood up. “I am not being silly.” 

She rolled her eyes and stood up. “Come, on, to bed.” 

I rolled my eyes and walked down the hall with her. I stepped into my bedroom and groaned softly. Maisie and Max were sprawled all over my bed. 

“Mama!” 

She came up behind me. “What’s wrong?” 

I pointed to the bed. “How am I supposed to sleep with that?” 

She peered around me and shrugged. “Find a nice piece of floor?” 

I groaned softly. “Thanks so much.”   
She kissed my head. “Good luck.” And then she walked over to her room! 

I growled again and turned back to the bed. “Ok, this is MY bed!” 

 

Aiden sat in a large oak tree peering through the leaves into the Amaia’s window. She was apparently arguing with something on the Daybed. He frowned a little as she tried to crawl onto the bed, only to crash to the floor. He blinked his eyes a little as she started waving her arms around. Then, seemingly to give up, she walked over and turned off the light. When the light was off she took a running leap towards the bed and jumped. But apparently she mis-stepped and crashed to the floor again. She stood up and yanked the Afghan and a pillow from the bed. Aiden frowned and shifted his body, trying to see what she was doing. He blinked again as she saw her making a small nest on the floor of her bedroom. On the bed, two cats were sprawled out. He leaned back against a branch and chuckled. “Wow, stubbornness is strong with this one.” 

 

The next morning, I sat up from my makeshift bed on the floor and got to my feet. Max and Maisie were still laying on the bed, sound asleep. I put my pillow back on the bed and stuck my tongue out at them. “I hope you guys had a good night.” 

I stomped out of the room and went down the hall where I could hear pans clattering. I sat down at the little kitchen table and put my face in my hands. 

“I had to sleep on the floor.” 

Mama paused her cooking to look over at me, her lips twitched as she put a plate in front of me. “Really?” 

I nodded my head, completely indignant that she didn't find this as rotten as I did. “Yes I did! I mean, that is my bed, you got it for me. And they were all sprawled out like the owned it.” 

Mama turned back to the stove, and I could see from her shaking shoulders that she was laughing. Well that is just not cool. “It’s not funny!”   
Mama turned back to me, tears falling down her cheeks as she laughed. “It is so funny! Because you let them sleep on the bed. Why didn't you just push them off the bed? They are cats, they would have just hopped back up there with you.” 

I opened my mouth to say something, snapped it closed and started stabbing at my breakfast, grumbling under my breath. 

Mama watched me for a few seconds sipping on her coffee. She finally shook her head. “Ok, stop stabbing and eat. We need to get our walking shoes on.” 

I sighed and did some justice to my breakfast (which was really good), slid of the stool and went to hit the showers. 

After I took a fast shower, I got out and wrapped myself in the large fluffy towel hanging on the hook. I stepped over to the medicine cabinet mirror, wiped the steam away with my hand and pulled my eyes up to my reflection. I blinked my eyes and waved my hand a little. Ok, the girl with blue and purple marks around her face was truly me. Wow. Ok, Makeup. 

I pulled on my jeans and t-shirt and started applying my makeup. Once I had enough to hide the bruises, I winced at the fact that I looked like I applied it with a butter knife. “Well this is no good.” 

I wiped off the makeup and tried again. Thankfully the second time, I did a little better and while you could see the shadows of bruises, it didn't look as terrible as it could have. 

Satisfied, I stepped out of the bathroom and almost face planted into the ground. “Son of a bitch!” I grabbed the door frame and looked down just in time to see a familiar cat scurry into Mama’s bedroom. 

Mama’s voice shouted down the hall. “Amaia, what happened?” 

I growled and got my footing. “I tripped over Max and almost fell!” 

“Oh. Well, be careful!” 

I walked down the hall to the living room where Mama was sitting on the couch reading a magazine. “Ok, I am ready.” Mama smiled and stood up. 

“Great, let’s go.” 

She locked up the apartment and we started walking down the street. It was early, so only a few neighbors were outside. Most of them were raking leaves or cleaning out gutters. October was just starting, but it was obvious that Fall came in like a lion on the West Coast.

We turned down the road and walked down the hill towards town. “You're really close to town, I thought you would be a lot farther.” 

She shook her head. “Nope, I chose it on purpose to be close to town. But I still want a car because your school is not exactly a hop, skip and jump away.” 

“This is true. It’s too bad you couldn't bring the Explorer.”

Mama shrugged. “It went to a good home, Rhea wanted it.” 

“I hope she had to pay through the nose for it.” 

Mama laughed and took my hand as we walked past the Municipal Auditorium. “Sammy said that is where all the dances are held.” 

Mama made a non-committal sound like she was only half listening to me. I looked over at her to see why and realized she was staring at something. I followed her gaze towards a young man leaning against a tree. His dark hair shone in the morning sun and one would peg him for a Dhampir, but his green eyes told of his true parentage. 

“Oh come on.” I muttered under my breath as Aiden pushed himself off of the tree and moved towards us. Mama still had a look on her face, it was almost one of shock. I touched her hand gently and she actually jumped. 

“Mama are you ok?” 

She swallowed hard and nodded. “Yeah, I am, I just…I thought I saw a ghost for a minute.” She shrugged her shoulders. “But I am ok. Sorry” 

Aiden finally made his way over to us and smiled. “Good Morning. I thought I recognized a familiar face.” 

I had to grind my teeth together to keep a biting remark from popping out. “Hey Aiden. Mama this is Aiden, the Vampire that is stalking me.” 

Mama smiled, although on the edge, her smile was strained. I bit my lip a little. Was Mama afraid of Aiden? Maybe my stalker talk had scared her. 

“Well, I mean he's not REALLY a stalker. He just hangs out a lot with all of us. I swear.” 

She gave my hand a squeeze. “Baby, it’s ok.” She offered Aiden her free hand, “Aiden it’s nice to meet you. I have heard a lot about you.” 

He took her hand and shook it. “All good I hope?”

Mama bit her lip, her eyes filled with laughter. “Actually, mostly complaints.” 

He smiled. “I get that a lot.” 

She smiled, her face relaxing. Which made me relax. “Well, we were on a car hunt if you want to join us.” 

Aiden shook his head. “I am actually running errands. But thanks.” 

Mama smiled. “Well how about dinner tonight? We could go to Applebee’s if you want. Well, I mean...do you…you know?”

Aiden smiled easily. “Yes I do. And I would love to.” 

Mama smiled. “Then I will see you this evening, about 6:30?” 

Aiden nodded and with a glance at me, he walked off. 

I huffed out a breath and looked at Mama. She just smiled at me. “It'll be fun.” 

I shook my head. “No it’s going to be horrible. My stalker and my Mama.” 

Mama rolled her eyes. “I thought you said just last night you wanted me to meet him.” 

I opened my mouth to say something and then shut it. Damn it, she caught me in that. I opened my mouth again. “Well, you just did. I didn't say I wanted you to get to be buddy buddy with him” I sighed and frowned. Wonderful my first weekend with my Mom and Aiden just had to get himself invited to join. 

Mama rolled her eyes at me. “If it makes you feel better, invite some other people. I would love to meet all of your friends 

I couldn't argue with that logic. At all. A group thing didn't make it Mama meeting Aiden, it made it her meeting everyone. 

“I can live with that.” 

Mama smiled. “Good to know. Now shall we get a car or stand here in the middle of the sidewalk arguing with each other.” 

We walked down to the small used car lot. It didn't have very many cars, but what was there was pretty nice. Mama picked a cute black cherry PT Cruiser. It was a far cry from her SUV, but it was a pretty comfortable car when we got in and drove off the lot. She turned down one of the side streets and got onto the cliff side road that had brought us up from the Ferry. I shifted in my seat. “Where are we going?” 

Mama grinned over at me. “Target.” 

I blinked my eyes at her. “Are you serious?” 

Mama nodded. “Yeah. You didn't know they had a Target here? It’s over by the hospital/Ferry area. Kind off of the beaten path.” 

“So why are we going to Target?” 

“I have a few things to get and I thought they might have a nice dress you could wear to dinner.” 

I fell against the seat. “Oh Mama come on. Please don't make me dress up.” 

Mama sighed softly. “I am not asking you to dress up. I am asking you to wear something OTHER than jeans. What is wrong with a nice dress or skirt?"

“It’s Applebee’s!” 

Mama took a deep breath. “I am asking you to do this for me. I think it would be nice to dress up a little tonight. Because to me, this is a special occasion. I am getting to sit down and have a nice dinner with my daughter at a restaurant after quite a few weeks of being apart. I am also getting to meet some of the lovely people she is bonding with. I don't think it would hurt you to dress up just this once. Do you?” 

When she put it that way, it was really hard to argue with her. Especially with her huge dark eyes boring into mine. I huffed softly and turned in my seat. “Nothing with ruffles or in pink.” 

“I can agree with that.” 

I won't bore you with the shopping trip I had to endure. Suffice to say, Mama got what she wanted (me in a dress), and I got what I wanted (nothing pink or ruffled). 

We picked up the few other things that Mama needed and then headed back to the house. 

When we pulled up in front of the house, Paige and Laura were outside raking up leaves. Well, I think the idea was to be raking up leaves. Instead they seemed to be throwing them at each other’s heads. 

Mama and I pulled the bags out of the trunk s and walked up the sidewalk. Paige waved at us from the yard and ran over. “Did you have a good time? Mom and I saw you leaving this morning and we were wondering where you were going.” 

Mama smiled as we walked up the porch. “Oh we had a few things to pick up and let your Mom know we are going to have dinner at Applebee’s and you guys are invited.” 

Paige smiled. “I will go tell Mom!” She ran back over to the yard and Mama opened the door. We set the bags on the counter and I sighed. “I am going to go lay down and text Mack, let her know that about dinner, see if Sammy and Mari want to come.” 

Mama nodded. “You might want to catch a nap since the circles under your eyes are big enough to hold dinner plates.” 

I rolled my eyes and went down the hall to my room and flopped on the (finally) free bed. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and sent a fast text to Mack. “Mama wants to have dinner with everyone, meet my friends. Want to come?” 

The phone chimed back with a message that said, “Sounds fun!” 

“Let Mari and Sammy know, see if they want to come. Your favorite person is coming too.” 

I could almost hear her cackle of delight when she sent me another message. “Oh, I am going to be there for sure. I wouldn't miss a great dinner with Vampire Boy.”

Well dinner just got more interesting. I clicked off the phone after I let her know that I was napping and to let me know about Mari and Sammy. I stretched out on the daybed and closed my eyes. I was out in a few minutes. 

After what felt like a few seconds, I opened my eyes and sat up. The room was pitch black. Which was strange because it had just been light. I sat up and swung my feet to the side of the bed and stood up. I felt my way to the door and opened it. Everything was just as dark in the hallway, I held onto the wall to keep my balance and keep from tripping over Max or Maisie. As I moved closer to the living room, I saw a faint light. I sighed in relief, the power must have been out and Mama must have a flashlight. I moved towards the light and stepped into the living room. Mama was standing at the window looking out, a glow was surrounding her from the flashlight. 

“Mama what happened to the power?” 

She said nothing, just kept staring out the window. I huffed and walked over to her. “Mama, what happened?” 

Still she said nothing, I walked over to her and touched her shoulder. “Mama I-”

The figured turned around fast and I fell backwards. Then I screamed. 

The figure in front of me was not Mama, it was me. But it wasn't me, it just looked like me. The thing’s neck was bleeding from a gaping wound. The eyes were dim, almost sightless. It swooped in front me from its spot at the window and stared into my eyes. It opened its mouth and screamed out. “They're Coming! Run!” 

I jerked awake and sat up fast. My heart was pounding against my chest. I was sweaty and plenty scared. I jumped off the bed and ran down the hall to the living room. Mama was curled up on the couch watching TV. She looked up at me and turned her attention back the TV and then looked at me again. 

She got up from the couch fast. “Amaia, what happened Are you ok?” 

She touched my cheeks gently and I shook my head. “Just uh…bad dream.” 

She pulled me close and kissed my head. “Well it’s over now.” 

“Yeah.” But I still felt cold from it. Chilled to my bones. 

What was going on?

 

Mari sat crossed legged on her bed Saturday afternoon, texting. She looked down as she sent a message. “I did what you wanted, I made up with them. Scored a dinner invite. Are you proud?”

The message chimed back a few minutes later. “I would be more proud if you had kept a grip on yourself in the first place. Then we wouldn’t need to take these measures.” 

Mari sighed softly. “I am fine now and I promise I will calm. I will play kiss ass tomorrow and things will be fine.” 

“I sure hope so. For both of our sakes.”


	13. Chapter 13

After my lovely nightmare, I was quite hard pressed to go take another nap. So I ended up taking a long hot bubble bath. Just me and my iPod. 

I was in the middle of ‘Hey There Delilah’ when I saw the door open and Mama appeared. I sat up and pulled my headphones out. She smiled at me. “Hey, you have been soaking for almost 2 hours, I think it’s time to get out.” 

I groaned softly. “But I am comfortable.” 

She ignored the whiney tone. “You also might want to put some more makeup on, unless you want me to be taken up on charges of child abuse.” 

I rolled my eyes as she shut the door and climbed out of the tub. “Charges of Child Abuse.” I muttered under my breath. I grabbed a towel, dried off and slipped on a fluffy pink robe. I walked to the bedroom where my new dress was laid out on the bed. It was a dark blue, almost black color with a full skirt that touched the top of my knees, dark purple lace covered the dress to finish it. It was a little too much for a dinner at Applebee’s in my opinion, but Mama had loved it and who was I to argue. I went back into the bathroom, did my hair and reapplied my makeup. The bruising was starting to fade a little, so I didn't have to be as hard core as I had been that morning. 

I finished up in the bathroom and went to the living room where a pair of black flats were waiting for me, as well as my small duffle bag. I sighed and slid them on. I guess staying with Mama indefinitely was out of the question, but I had hoped to stay longer than a night. I gave the bag a small kick and sat down on the couch. Mama came out of the kitchen wearing a pair of black pants and a white blouse. “You look great!” 

I crossed my arms and gave her a pointed look. “Why aren't you wearing a dress?” 

She smiled. “Because I'm the mom and I outrank you.” 

A loud knock on the door interrupted my grumbling on the couch. “And because I still out rank you, grab the door while I get my purse.” I huffed out a breath as she went down the hall and opened the door. Aiden stood on the porch wearing a pair of black jeans and polo shirt. And he also had a mysterious lump on his back. “Uh did you have a run in with Dr. Frankenstein that I don't know about?” 

He growled softly at me. “Can you get this cat off of me please?” 

“Cat?” I asked him confused. I stepped around him and blinked my eyes at the sight of Mouser up on his shoulder. And the odd thing was the cat was rubbing against Aiden’s head and purring. “Uh…wow, I've never seen him act like that.” 

“I really don't care. Get him off of me.” 

I rolled my eyes and stood on my tiptoes, “Can you kneel down a little; I can't reach him.” 

Aiden groaned and kneeled down a little. “You know this wouldn't be a problem if you weren't so short.” 

“Shut up Aiden.” I tried to lift Mouser up but he dug his claws into Aiden’s shoulder. Aiden didn't even cry out. Oh yeah, Vampire. “Mouser come on!” 

Aiden sighed. “If he tears my shirt I am going to make you replace it.” 

I gave a hard yank and got Mouser off of Aiden. I plopped him down on the porch and he swished his tail in annoyance. I sighed and softly. “That was the strangest thing. Elizabeth said that cats hated vampires.” 

Aiden stood up and shook his head. “She is right, animals hate us. No one is sure why. Maybe it’s because they sense something feral about us. Is my shirt ok?” 

I looked across the black material stretched across his back and shoulders. “Yeah it looks good.” 

He stood up and brushed the knees of his jeans. “Well, that was fun.” He looked me over and smiled. “You clean up good.” 

I blushed. “Thanks. Mama requested I wear a dress so here we are.” I looked over his shoulder. “Did you bring the others?” 

He shook his head. “They are coming with Sammy, I walked.” 

I blinked my eyes. “You walked? That is quite a ways for you to….right, Vampire.” 

Aiden chuckled as Mama stepped out onto the porch. “Well, Aiden here you are. I was wondering why Amaia was hiding out here.” 

Aiden smiled. “She was helping me with a small problem.” 

I looked at my Mama and rolled my eyes. “Mouser attacked him.” 

Mama rolled her eyes at little. “Damn Cat. Amaia why don't you run next door and go get Paige and her Mama?” 

I nodded my head and ran across the yard and knocked on the door. Paige opened the door wearing a skirt and a pretty blue blouse. I smiled at her. “You look great, I like your skirt.” 

She smiled at me and lifted up the hem of the skirt. “It’s a skorts actually. I hate trying to sit like a lady.” 

I rolled my eyes. “My Mama made me wear this.” 

She giggled and dropped her voice. “Mom doesn't know this is a skort, she thinks it’s just a skirt.” 

I grinned at her but cleared my throat when Laura appeared. “Oh you look lovely Amaia. Are we ready to go?” 

We walked across the lawn back to the porch where Mama was having conversation with Aiden and by the slump of her shoulders, it looked intense. I bit my lip and hurried up the porch steps. “Mama? You ok?” 

She turned around and smiled at me. “Yes, just talking to Aiden about something. Come on sweetie, I'm starving.” 

We walked down to the cruiser. I squished into the back seat with Aiden and Paige, Laura sat down in the passenger seat. Paige didn't like being pressed against the window, so she made me scoot over a little. I had to press my whole side against Aiden, almost cuddling him. And I have to say for a guy with a low respiratory and heart rate, he was REALLY warm. Except for his hands, those were freezing. I looked up at him. “Sorry about this.” 

He shrugged. “It’s a tight space, your mom should have looked into something bigger.” 

I laughed softly. “I think she liked this because it was cute.” 

He actually winced like I had hurt him. “Cute and car are not words that should be used together in a sentence, I think I hear Henry Ford rolling over in his grave.” 

I shook my head. “I'm surprised Vampires care about cars.” 

He looked at me and chuckled. “I am still a guy and guys love cars.” 

“I smiled at him. “The only difference between men and boys.”

Aiden smiled back. “Size of their shoes and price of their toys.” 

We both started to laugh, but the laughter tapered off to silence as we stared at each other. 

His green eyes were hypnotizing, it was like he was staring into my soul. I rubbed my tongue across my lips and inched a little closer. 

My attention was drawn away when I heard soft singing. I turned my head and realized it was Paige. I groaned when I realized what she was singing Little Mermaid’s Kiss the Girl. 

As she sang, she gave me a push from the side, which pressed me into Aiden more. 

 

I rolled my eyes and moved away from Aiden. “Paige if I keep moving over, I am going to be on Aiden’s lap, which is not something either one of us would enjoy.” 

Paige chuckled. “Uh-huh.” 

As I looked over at Aiden, I wondered how he was taking all of this. It seemed like he wasn’t bothered by it at all. As a matter of fact, he looked like he is enjoying it, he was smirking! I sent him a mild glare to let him know I'm not as amused. 

The sound of someone doing kissing noises made me look over at Paige who was smiling.   
Her smiled fade and she yelped though when my foot connected with her shin. "Paige, you ok?" Laura asks. 

She said nothing, just rubbed her leg and muttered under her breath. I was going to ask what she said, but we pulled into the parking lot before I could. I almost leapt over the top of Paige and Aiden to get out of the car. When Mama looked at me weird for my hurried exit, I shrugged. “I have to pee.” 

She smiled and shook her head. “Ok, well let’s get inside before we need a cleaning crew.” 

As we walked through the door, Laura said, “You know, for a small town Applebee’s, it was pretty quiet.” 

The hostess that opened the door for us shrugged. “Fridays are usually our busy evenings. Saturdays are quiet since the movie theater runs ‘Two for the Price of One’ movies all day long.” 

She sat us down at a large table and handed out menus. I asked where the rest room was located, and she pointed the way. I excused myself and almost ran to the bathroom. I splashed some cold water onto my face and took some deep breaths. I had wanted to kiss Aiden. Kiss Aiden. The annoying Vampire that followed me everywhere. I looked into the mirror and spoke to my reflection. “You do not have a crush on a Vampire. You especially do not have a crush on Aiden. Aiden is an annoying jerk who almost follows you into the bathroom. You do not have a crush on him, you have more sense than that. He is…the older brother figure. Plus…you know you can do better than him.” But those green eyes that mirrored my own would not leave me alone. 

My own eyes stared at me from the mirror and pretty much said: “Yeah ok, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you too.” 

I growled at my reflection. “Alright, you need to stop this idiotic behavior. You do NOT have a crush Aiden. Aiden is annoying, get a crush on someone better, like Trevor. There is a good match. Nothing like a guy that is all brawn and no brain to make a girl feel good.” 

The mirror image quirked its eyebrows at me. “Shut up.” The knock on the door made me jump and Paige’s muffled voice spoke through the door. “Amaia you ok? Everyone else is here, we are waiting for you.” 

I took a breath. “Yeah, I will be there in a second Paige.” I took another breath and opened the door. She looked at me suspiciously. 

“Who were you talking to?” 

I shook my head. “Myself mostly.” 

We walked back to the table. Paige walked around to the other side taking a seat between Laura and Mack, who I noticed was dressed in black pants, white blouse and Sperry Dock shoes. I took the empty spot between Mama and Aiden. As I sat I looked around and saw Mari next to Aiden. I gave her a smile in welcome. 

"So, looks like your Mama girlied you up tonight." Mack said in greeting. 

I smirked and took a sip of my soda. “Trust me, this is going to be the last time you see my butt squeezed into a dress."

I heard Aiden chuckle next to me. “You are not going to girly up for a dance?” 

I groaned softly taking another sip of my drink. “I forgot about that. Oh well, I guess it will be mildly girly for that one.” 

Mack rolled her eyes. “Nah, just slap on a nice pair of pants and blouse, call it a day.” 

I laughed softly, “I might take you up on that.” 

The waitress came around and Mama smiled. “This is my treat so everyone order whatever your heart desires. But no alcohol, you are all underage.” 

Aiden smirked. “I am not.” 

Mama smiled at him. “You look it, so no.” 

The waitress went around the table for orders. I was feeling a little peaked, so I ordered the Bourbon Street Steak Medium Rare, as I didn’t quite have the stomach to eat rare meat. Mack ordered steak and baked potato. Aiden ordered pasta, which had me raising an eyebrow at him. 

"What?" He asked at my look.

“You ordered Pasta.” 

“Yeah...and?” 

“Well, just normally, I see you with your cup and you don't eat anything.” 

He smiled. “I like Pasta, added to that, I'm at a table with nice people, enjoying good conversation."

“So you are being polite?” 

He rolled his eyes. “Grace, are you sure I can't have a small glass of wine?” 

“No Aiden.” 

“Damn it.” He downed his glass of iced tea in one gulp. 

My mom laughed. “Is my daughter being mean to you?” 

Aiden shook his head. “Just being obnoxious.” 

Mama laughed and took a sip of her drink. “Funny, she gives you the same stellar reviews.” 

Aiden rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair, causing his shirt to press against his arms, which made my eyes cross. I felt a kick under the table and yelped. I turned to look at Mack who was staring at me with a raised eyebrow. “You have some uh…” She rubbed the side of her mouth. I shot a narrow look at her but discreetly rubbed my mouth. She snickered at me which drew Sammy’s attention. “What’s up over there?” 

Mack shook her head. “Just making fun of Amaia a little.”

"Can I ask why you're teasing her?” Sammy asked with a curious, playful look on his face. 

Mack leaned over a little and whispered to Paige. Paige's only reply was a big grin and nod. Mack turned to Sammy, and with a mischievous grin and motioned for him to lean down some. Then she proceeded too whisper in his ear. By the time she stopped, Sam was trying to keep his laughter quiet. All three of them shared a look before glancing at Aiden and me.

I grumbled under my breath because I knew Paige had told Mack what had happened in the car and now Sammy knew. I just knew I was in for a world of teasing and there was nothing I could do about it right now. 

When the food arrived, everyone dug in and all conversation suspended itself until out of nowhere, I saw a piece of steak fly across the table. I followed it and watched as it hit Aiden directly on the chest. All motion stopped as everyone watched Aiden pick up the piece of steak and then slowly raised his head to look over at Mack. 

She smiled a huge smile as she said. "Hey, old man you're dead cause I just steaked you." Then she went back to eating. 

Aiden just shook his head and popped the piece of steak in his mouth. After he finished chewing he picked up his fork, and said. "Nice shot Mack. But you do know this means I have to get you back right?" 

Mack just looked at him and took a drink of her tea. "Bring it, Vampy." 

After that interlude, the rest of dinner passed peacefully; no one else was staked, kicked or drooled over. 

Once we were all finished, Mama paid the bill, and we all walked outside. Well, walking might have been overrated, I felt like I was waddling.

Once we were outside though, Mama gave me a hug. “Ok love, I need to let you get back to the dorm.” I blew out a breath and shook my head, but she held firm. “There is always next weekend and every weekend after that. You have things to do at school.” She kissed my forehead and turned toward the car. I sighed and moved toward Sammy’s car and a few seconds later, Paige fell in step next to me. “That was too short.” I said to her. 

She nodded. “But I have a shit load of homework to do, I know you do too.” 

I sighed. “I hate homework.” 

Paige patted my shoulder. “Yeah, me too.” 

Sunday was filled with homework and other non-fun related events. But it was fun because we all were together, even Mari. We mostly hung out in the sitting room, doing homework and watching TV. At one point, Mari had to step out to take a call and came back, flushed in her face. Paige wiggled her eyebrows at her. “Oh some sexiness in the call huh?” 

Mari shook her head. “Nope. Just someone asking if I wanted to change my long distance plan.” 

Mack raised her eyebrows. “I don't recall blushing when someone asks ME to change my long distance rates.” 

I snickered as I wrote down some equations for Miss Hilbert’s class. “Maybe you are not talking to the right people Mack.” 

Homework was temporarily put on hold to engage in a pillow fight. And then we decided we were hungry, so we raided Paige’s hidden stash of candy instead of eating normal food. After the consumption of candy, we were too wired to do any more homework, so we enjoyed a rousing game of Just Dance. 

After that, I fell onto the couch and tried (without success) to hide a yawn. Which caused a chain reaction. I stood up and stretched. “Sorry ladies, but I'm exhausted and ready to curl up in bed and get some sleep.” 

Everyone said good night and off to bed I went. 

 

The next morning was a slow day, probably because I was coming down from the high of being at Mama’s. I actually did something completely unlike me, I ditched a few classes. I wasn't alone though, Aiden spent time with me. We didn't really do anything, just sat outside on the benches. I listened to my iPod and just read. I didn't even eat lunch, much to his chagrin. 

He finally poked me towards the end of the day. I took off my ear buds and looked at him. 

“What’s up?” 

He smiled at me. “Well little miss ditcher, we need to go to Baran’s class unless you want to get killed.” 

I sighed softly. “I don't know-”

He blew out a breath. “Amaia, you have moped around all day long and missed every single class. I am REALLY surprised no one has noticed you, unless Mack and Paige are covering for you.” 

I snickered softly. “They probably are.” 

He shook his head, stood up and grabbed my arm. “Come on, to class!” 

With me protesting the whole way, he drug me to Baran’s class. There was a sign on the railing again that said: Change and hit the floor, do not pass go. Do not collect 200.00. 

I blew out a breath and went to the locker room. Mack, Paige and Mari were changing. Mack raised her eyebrow at me. “Well, well. Look who decided to join us today.” 

I rolled my eyes at her and went to my locker. “Shut up, Mack.” 

She chuckled under her breath. “Now be nice, I have notes and homework.” 

I smiled at her, “Fine, thank you for looking out for me.” 

She smiled back and finished dressing. She hung back a little though while I was dressing. She walked over and sat down on the bench next to me. “Why did you skip classes today?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “You ever have one of those days?” 

She nodded. “Every day of my life.” 

I laughed, tied my shoes and walked out with her. “I just wanted to chill.” 

She smiled at me. “You are too new to need to chill.” 

She knocked against my shoulder as we walked down the ramp. Down on the floor, Sammy’s sisters Annie and Hayden were doing flips and back hand springs. Baran was standing next to the floor, arms crossed watching them. Everyone else was sitting around the floor area while the girls jumped around the floor. 

Once Mack and I sat down, Baran turned to our little group. “Alright, we did hand to hand last week, this week we are going to expand on that. Because hand to hand doesn't mean just using your hands, it means using your body. Today, we are going to work on some back flips that will help with protecting yourself.” He blew his whistle. “Annie, Hayden, off the floor!” The two girls darted off of the floor and grabbed some water. He clapped his hands together. “Now, you are going to form 3 lines, I'm going to take a line, Sammy is going to take a line and Aiden is going to take a line. I'm going to expect you to do 3 back flips in a row without help before you leave this floor for the day.” He blew the whistle again. “Let’s go!” 

As we stood up, Baran waved his fingers at me. I trotted over. “Yes sir?” 

He smirked at me. “Two things Green Eyes. One, do not get into the same line as Sassy Mouth and Reese. You three chatter way too much. And two, I hear you skipping classes again, I will sentence you to detention and it will be MY detention. Now hit the floor.” 

You didn't have to tell me twice. I ran to the floor and got into Aiden’s line. Mack got into Sammy's line and Paige went into Baran's line. Mari got behind me and smiled. “Hey. Where were you hiding today?” 

I shrugged my shoulders. “I was just hanging in the quad mostly. I was having a day.” 

She smiled and patted my shoulder, “I feel your pain.” 

I smiled at her, watching the other kids do their flips. Mack smiled as she walked up to Sam. 

"So, Sammy boy how are we going to do this?" 

Sammy grinned back as he said. "From what I hear this should be a cake walk for you Mack." He gave her a wink as he told her what he needed her to do. 

"Let me get this right, you want me to fall into your arms but then you flip me?" 

Sammy nodded as Mack got in to position and did a perfect flip. 

Sammy chuckled as she flipped. "Mack darling, you can fall into my arms anytime you want." He said with a smile. 

"I just might take you up on that someday Sammy." Mack said. She winked as she walked off to stretch. 

I sighed at the mushiness and walked up to Aiden who smiled at me. “Haven't I seen you around somewhere?” 

“Yeah, yeah. So what do I do?” 

He smiled at me. “First of all, I am going to put my arm out and you are going to press your back against it.” 

I sighed, turned around and pressed my back against his arm. He grabbed my hands and pulled me backwards. “Now lift your legs and fall backwards.” 

Mari snickered. “That is what she said.” 

Aiden rolled his eyes. “Come on Amaia.” 

I sighed and lifted my legs and fell backwards. I flipped over his arm and bounced onto my feet. “Oh that was fun!” 

He rolled his eyes at me. “Go do some stretches, you will be the lucky first to do it again.” 

I sighed and walked a little further down the floor and sat down stretching my arms over my head and legs out. Mack was next to me doing flips and splits. “Show off.” 

She smirked at me. "What can I say? If you got it, you got it.”

I shake my head. "Smart ass. “I flicked my eyes to watch Paige tumble to the ground from her flip. Baran shook his head. “Ok, Reese’s Pieces I need you to loosen up and trust me.” 

She stood up and put her hands on her hips. “I’m sorry but I just don't like falling backwards. I especially don't like having my feet off the ground." 

Baran gave her a firm look. "You can do this. I'm not going to let you get hurt. Trust me."

She huffed out a breath and got back into position. I paused my stretching and said, before she flipped, “Paige, tuck your feet in.” 

She looked at me upside and nodded. She tucked her feet in a little and flipped over the back of Baran’s arm. She almost fell, but bounced to her feet. She threw her hands up in the air. “WOO HOO!” 

Baran chuckled. ”Good job. Go stretch.” 

She danced over to the floor and sat down. Mari plopped down next to me and started stretching. “So you hear what is coming up?” 

I shook my head as I stretched, listening to thumps and bumps next to me. “No what’s up?” 

She leaned down and touched her hand to her ankle. “Halloween is coming up. They always throw a bash type thing. But then, the big party comes after.” 

“Big party?” 

She nodded. “Damien is throwing a party after hours, so everyone will have to sneak out. It’s going to be great, you should come.” 

I blinked my eyes at her. “I don't know if-”

She smiled at me. “Talk to Damien later, he will tell you.” 

Baran blew his whistle effectively ending our conversation. We stood up and did our flipping again. By the end of it, I managed to do all of my flips, even with the thought of a party swirling through my head. 

After class was over and we had made our way to the locker room, I broached the subject with Mack and Paige. 

Mack nodded. “Yeah, I had heard about it from Sammy today. See what happens when you ditch class.” 

I rolled my eyes heavenward. “So what is this party and then PARTY?” 

Mack shrugged. “Apparently they throw a party in here. Everyone dresses up, they have contests and prizes, food, all that. Then apparently, Damien and his crew throw a party in the woods with the normal teenage debauchery that runs so rampant at these things. 

I slid on my sketchers and leaned against the wall I was sitting against. “Well, that is interesting.” 

Paige slid on her headband to pull back her dark hair. “Do you think we should go?” 

Mack shrugged. “Well, I would say it would be a very interesting time for sure. I think we should seriously consider it.” 

I stood up and pulled my hair out the rubber band and fluffed it. “While we are considering, I think one of us should talk to Damien tonight at dinner. See what could be there. And there is one thing I don't want to do.” 

Mack looked at me. “What is that?” 

“Tell Aiden anything.” 

That night at dinner, I slid into the seat next to Damien as the designated spokesman. “So I hear you are throwing a Halloween Party.” 

He snorted as he sipped his drink. “That sounds too juvenile. I prefer the term, drunken kegger.” 

I smirked at him. “Kegger. Well that is a new one on me.” 

He smirked back. “Well, Kegger is just part of it. Bonfire, lake for swimming, soap n slide.” 

“Wait, a what?” 

He smiles. “Soap n slide. You have heard of a Slip n Slide right?” 

I nodded and he smiled. “Well this is where you have a piece of plastic, could be the slide part. But instead of just water, you pour soap all over it. Makes it more fun to slide on.” 

I chuckled softly. “That sounds fun.” 

He nodded. “Hmm hmm. It is fun and we have music and everything. You guys should come.” 

I stood up. “I will think about it.” 

He grabbed my wrist gently and then in a bold move, kissed the palm of my hand. “Please do. I would love for you to be there.” 

I yanked my hand away. “I will try.” With a quick turn, I stepped away from Damien and walked back to the table. Once I was sitting, Mack looked at me. “What did he say?” 

I fanned my flushed cheeks. “Um, we are invited and he strongly suggests we go.”

Mack leaned back in her chair and smiled. “Then we shall.”


	14. Chapter 14

October 14th dawned bright, clear and FREEZING! In the past few weeks, it had been crispy Autumn weather. Nothing too hot, nothing too cold. But when Mack, Paige and I woke up, there was frost on the window and it was cold to touch. Mack rubbed her hand across the frosty window and peered out. She huffed out a breath and turned to look at us. “Well, Ladies, I believe the cold has arrived, we are going to need coats.” 

I groaned softly. “I am not a coat person.” 

Mack rolled her eyes. “Fine then, catch a cold. I am not your mom.” 

Paige snickered, went into the walk in closet, gathered her clothes and went out to the bathroom area. I rolled my eyes and started pulling out my clothes. “You are pretty chipper for a Tuesday morning.” 

“Costume shopping puts me in a good mood.” 

I shook my head at her. “Who ever heard of shopping on a Tuesday night?” 

“With you and Paige spending the Weekends in town, and me and Mari spending it here, it’s hard to get everyone coordinated. So Tuesday is the perfect day. Besides that, if we keep waiting, all the good costumes are going to be gone.” 

“Is Sammy coming too?” 

She shrugged. “Who knows what that boy is and is not doing.” 

I smiled at her a little. “Does this mean you are not going to dance with him?” 

She shot me a dirty look and threw some socks at my head. “Get out of here you.” 

I ran out of the room and into the bathroom. One thing the three of us have had to learn is sharing the bathroom. If we all tried to take turns, we would have to get up at 4:00 am.

When I walked into the bathroom, Paige was singing behind the shower curtain. I turned on the water in the sink to brush my teeth while she finished up. Thankfully, the plumbing was such that using the sink didn't bother her shower. When I turned it on though, I heard the crinkle of the plastic shower curtain. I looked at the shower through the mirror and Paige’s face was staring back at me. She pushed her dark hair back from her face. “What are you doing?” 

I turned around to face her with the toothbrush hanging out of my mouth and blinked. “I am painting the Sistine Chapel. What does it look like I am doing?” I mumbled around the toothpaste foam. 

She rolled her eyes. “I meant why are you brushing your teeth first? You usually shower first.” 

I rinsed out my mouth and turned back to her. “Because you are taking a shower at this moment, I decided to kill some time and practice some good oral hygiene. It’s a quirk, indulge me.” 

She chuckled, turned off the water, grabbed a towel and stepped out. “Ok I have to say, this bathroom sharing thing is starting to get strange.” 

“Well it’s either this or get up at 4:00 am, and I am not a morning person.” 

Paige frowned. “Me neither, maybe Mack could be the morning person.” 

The door bursting opened made us both jump. Mack rushed in and took in the scene, me in my jammies and Paige in a towel. “I have to pee. So everyone needs to clear out.” 

We both left. Paige went to the room to get dressed, I sat down on the couch and waited for Mack to come out of the bathroom. 

After the hustle and bustle of our morning routine, we went down to breakfast. Our table had expanded to include Mari and sometimes Damien. Aiden didn't like that, so when Damien joined, Aiden went elsewhere. I had to ask him to go elsewhere truth be told, because the death glares did not aid my digestion well. 

When we arrived though, Mari was sitting at the table by herself, swinging her feet and tapping on her phone. I plopped down next to her and gave her a poke. “What’s got you looking so serious?” 

She looked up at me. “A storm is coming.” 

I blinked at her. “Uh, is that literally or figuratively?” 

She rolled her eyes. “Only you Amaia would think I am meant that figuratively. No, weather tracker says there is a storm getting ready to blow in. It will be here this weekend.” 

“Well shit. Thank goodness we are going costume shopping tonight.”

Paige and Mack walked over and plopped down next to me. Paige had a look on her face like someone had told her Reese’s Pieces had been banned from the planet Earth. “What’s wrong?” 

She pouted and held out her phone. I took it out of her hand and turned it towards me. “Storm coming to Island, battening down the hatches. No Mommy Daughter weekend. Oh man that sucks Paige!” 

She nodded and took the phone back. “I was REALLY looking forward to this weekend too. We had plans to go to the Mainland. She was thinking about getting me a car so I wouldn't have to rely on Aiden.” 

I snorted. “Yeah rub that in the 15 year olds face. Everyone else can drive.”   
Mack patted my head. “Oh poor little baby. Turning 16 in February is such a hardship while the big kids all get to go drinking and gambling.” 

I smacked her hand playfully. “Shut up. It stinks you know, being the youngest.” 

A figure plopped down next to me with a plate of food. “Age is just a number you know.” Aiden said. 

I rolled my eyes and Mack smirked. “Spoken like a true ageless person Vampire Boy.” 

He looked at her with a steely glare. “Watch it Mackenzie, I still owe you for that steaking moment.” 

She smiled at him. “Aw don't be a sore loser old man. The steak sauce went lovely with your shirt.”

I rolled my eyes. “Phish...I think it was a waste of a perfectly good piece of steak myself.” 

Aiden looked at me, a smile on his face. “Really?”

I nodded and Mack snorted. “Ah, young one, you shall learn as you get older you find that certain things need to be sacrificed. I didn't see it as me wasting a perfectly good piece of steak. I saw it as a needed sacrifice for my entertainment purposes.” 

Aiden shook his head. “Mack you...are a strange strange person.” 

Mack dug into the food on her plate. “Why thank you Aiden.” 

He growled under his breath and I grabbed his arm. “Now now, we are all friends here. And it’s too early in the morning to be talking about revenge. Besides, we should be talking costumes.” 

Aiden’s growls went to groans. “Seriously Amaia? Halloween is still a few weeks off.” 

I smiled at him sweetly. “But we are costume shopping tonight.” 

He rolled his eyes. “I didn't get the memo.” 

“Well you have been duly informed.” Mack said. “And I think I already know what Aiden should be.” 

Aiden motioned with his hand like he was giving Mack the floor. “Do tell ever present thorn in my side.” 

She smiled at him. “You should be a Vampire.” 

There was a loud thud as his head banged on the table. I calmly took a bite of my pancakes. “No go there, Sammy is being a Vampire, of the sparkly variety.” 

Mack chuckled. “Leave it to Sammy. What are you going to be?” 

I shrugged, “I was thinking Little Red Riding Hood.” 

Mack started to laugh, spewing milk out of her nose. “Oh man that is good, Aiden you could be the Big Bad Wolf.” She almost fell off the chair laughing. 

I rolled my eyes again as Aiden jerked his head up and started to growl. I patted his arm gently. “That is an insult Mack on so many levels.” He muttered and took a long drink from his cup. 

“Anyway, if I may continue children.” They silenced their mutterings and I smiled. “I know Mari wants to be a Pirate, what is Damien going to be?” 

She shrugged, “I have no idea. He just said he has his costume together and he won't be joining us.” 

I shrugged. “Well I guess it’s just us then. Sammy is not going to go since he already has his costume ready, he just needs to put it together. Aiden can you give us a ride, we are meeting Mama and Laura at the Spirit store.” 

He grunted softly and I smiled. “I am going to assume you agree.” The bell chimed through the cafeteria and we all stood up. “Ok so we will get together after class and head downtown.” 

Everyone agreed and we all darted off to class. It was finals week before the Dhampir Holiday Tisztít. We were currently learning about the Holiday in Dhampir Class from our teacher Mrs. Mitchell. And yes, in case you were wondering, she does have dark eyes and dark hair. 

She was also standing in front of us as we were grouped around our tables. “So the Holiday Tisztít was created by the Twins. Since they originate from Hungary, cleansing rituals are commonplace. Their birthday is on the 24th of October, so they use that time to cleanse themselves of negative energy and possible spirits in preparation of Halloween, and also to aid good fortune for their new year of life. Any questions?” She glanced around the room and stopped at me. “Ok Amaia?” 

“Well, what are some of the cleansing rituals they do?” 

She smiled. “Well, back in the dark ages, Sarah would bathe in clover covered with dew to prevent bad luck and encourage good fortune.” At the boy’s hoots, she grinned. “I am sure everyone would love to see some lovely ladies rolling around naked in the grass, but put your hot and sexy aspirations on hold since that doesn't happen anymore. Now, it is more common to have a weekend festival to encourage unity and togetherness.” The boys gave some good natured groans and the bell rang, effectively ending our session. Since it was a short session, I made my way back to the dorm and sat in the sitting room doing my homework. About halfway through working on my homework, my phone started to ring cheerfully. I picked it up and smiled as Mama’s name flashed across the readout. “Hey Mama.” I said as I pressed the speaker phone button. 

“Hey Baby!” Her voice came across the crackly line. “What are you doing?” 

I made a face. “Doing homework, its finals so I have to study.” 

“Good, keep up the good work. Are we still costume shopping tonight?” 

“Yeah, Paige is all bummed out though because Laura is canceling the weekend.” When silence followed after, I groaned and flopped back against the couch. “Oh no please no.” 

She sighed. “Baby I have to. The storm that is coming is supposed to be really bad, I would feel better if you were at the school.” 

I sighed softly and made a moaning noise. “Amaia, come on, knock it off. It’s going to bad one, you will be safer at school. So just stay put and enjoy a weekend with your friends. We still have tonight.” 

I whined a little more, but Mama was steadfast. I sighed softly. “Well I guess the older wiser part comes into play here?” 

“Yes ma'am it does. But we will see each other tonight. I love you.” 

“Love you too.” 

I hung up the phone and flopped against the couch. Stupid storm. Totally messing up plans for other people. There should be a law somewhere. 

My pouting was interrupted by the door opening. Paige and Mack walked in and flopped onto the couch next to me. Paige gave me a look. “Weekend canceled?” 

I nodded and flopped my head against her shoulder. “It sucks.” She patted my head. “Oh poor little girl. Can't go to her mom’s.” 

Mack patted my head too. “At least you will have tonight.” 

I sat up and rolled my eyes. “Is Aiden taking us down?” 

Mack nodded. “Yeah Vampy said he was going. He needs to get going early since he and Baran are working all day tomorrow.” 

I rolled my eyes. “Oh poor baby. I should play him a song on the world’s smallest violin.” 

Mack and Paige started to howl with laughter as I moved to the bedroom with my stuff to change my clothes. 

We met Aiden in the parking lot where he was sitting in his car. I opened the passenger door and slid in, he looked over at me and smiled. “Well finally.” 

I rolled my eyes at him. “Yeah yeah.” 

I heard the back doors open so the others could slide in. The door shut and Mack leaned over the seat. “Hey Vampy, what goes on?” 

He looked over at her and shook his head. “Absolutely nothing. Waiting on some slow ass girls.” 

Mack rolled her eyes. "Good thing we showed up, so you don't have to wait on their slow asses anymore. Huh?” 

Aiden laughed and turned the music up and I hummed along to Nickelback as we drove to town. We pulled in front of the Spirit store as I hummed So Far Away, I grinned when I spotted Mama and Laura on the sidewalk. Once Aiden parked, I jumped out of the car and ran to my Mama. She kissed my head and hugged me. “Hey baby girl!” 

Everyone else walked over and Paige hugged Laura then looked at us. “Everyone ready to shop? They are pretty quiet tonight.” 

We all marched inside and started going through the costumes. Mama helped me out, trying to find a cute but non slutty Red Riding Hood Costume. We finally found a black skirt that was supposed to be part of a witch’s costume. We matched that with a white peasant top and a red cape. Mama sent me into the dressing room and I changed into the outfit and stepped out. Mama smiled at me. “You know what you need under that skirt?” She walked over to the back where Mack was holding up a costume while Paige was talking to Mari. She walked over with some lacey thing and handed it to me. I untangled the thing and looked her. “What is this?” 

“It’s a crinoline. It adds puff to the skirt. Just try it on.” 

I groaned and moved back into the dressing room. I slid the crinoline under the skirt and raised an eyebrow. I stepped outside and did a spin and Mama smiled. “Oh, you look great. All you need is a basket and you will be off to Grandmother’s house you go.” 

I sighed and looked over to see Mack watching me. She gave me a smile and walked over. “Wow, you look super girly.” 

“Oh, shut up.” I mumbled. “What did you pick out?” 

She held out her costume. “I am going to be a Ninja.” 

“I hate you.” 

She chuckled and shook her head. “Nah, you look cute.” 

I sighed softly. “I don't WANT to look cute. I want to look sexy.” 

She chuckled again. “That is what happens when you go shopping with moms.” 

Mama walked back over and handed me a large basket that had a small stuffed wolf in it. I took the basket and she smiled. “Oh, my goodness! You look great.” I sighed softly. “Thanks Mama.” 

“Ok let’s walk around and make sure it’s ok to walk in.” Mack jumped into the dressing room while I did a turn on the catwalk, so to speak.” 

Mack came out of the dressing room wearing a red and black ninja costume. I smiled a little and looked at Mama. “See that, Mack gets to be a ninja, why can't I be a ninja?” 

Mama rolled her eyes. “You look sweet and adorable, that is a good look for you.” 

Mari stepped out of the other dressing room, dressed a pirate. She pointed her sword at Mack. “Arr Matey.” 

I sighed softly as Paige ran into the dressing room. I looked around the store and frowned a little. “Has anyone seen Aiden? He is sorta my ride and-” 

My breath caught in my throat as he came around the corner. He was in old fashioned black tuxedo with a black cape. A white mask covered half his face. He held a fake red rose in his hand. 

He smiled and walked over and gave me a little bow. “Red Riding Hood.” 

“Uh, uh?” 

He smiled gently. “Phantom.” 

“Oh yeah, Phantom. Where is Christine?”

He grinned at me. “She ran off with Raul.” 

Mack walked up next to me. “Calm your hormones there Phantom. I don't think Red Riding Hood wants a piece of that. Especially in front of her mother.” 

Aiden smirked at Mack and shook his head. “Yeah ok.” Mari the pirate and Paige, who was dressed as a witch walked over to us. I looked around the group and shook my head. “My god, we look like we all got lost on the way to Comic Con.” 

Mari snickered. “Except you, you look like you got lost on the way to Fairytale World.” 

I rolled my eyes. “At least I am modest.” 

Mack smirked. “Are you saying I am not?” 

I bit my lip a little. “Nope, not saying that. Just saying, I would like to be a silent assassin.” 

She patted my head. “Sorry, you would never be the silent assassin.” 

We all laughed and Mari pulled off her hat. “You know there is a Role Playing Game called Assassin.” 

Paige frowned. “What is that?” 

Mack shared a grin with Mari and then said. “Basically it’s a game where everyone pretends to kill everyone else. Last person standing wins.” 

Paige smiled and pulled off her witch’s hat. “That sounds like fun. Do you have a specific person you kill or is it a free for all?” 

Mari rocked on her heels. “It’s a free for all. Generally, elimination is carried out using items and methods that cause no actual damage and, in many cases, cannot be mistaken by bystanders for real weapons or acts of violence. You use like Nerf guns, fake bombs, stuff like that. Paint ball guns are used sometimes.” 

I shook my head. “Oh man, I would be out fast. I can't hit anyone to save my life.”

Mack patted my back. “You could be the host. Like you could figure out the kills and weapons. Assassins always need a good commander behind them.” 

Before I could answer, Mama and Laura walked over. “Ok, if we are ready, let’s change clothes and head back to the dorm. It’s almost curfew.” 

It was a mad dash to get to a dressing room since there was so many of us, but we eventually all got changed and walked out to the car. 

I gave Mama a hug and a kiss and she pushed the bag into my hands. “Ok, I will see you in a few weeks. Have fun at the Halloween Dance.” 

We climbed into the car and I leaned again the seat. The other girls were silent in the backseat, each of us lost in our thoughts. Aiden broke it when we were almost to the school. “You know, since we have next week off, we should play Assassin.” 

I sat up a little and looked at him. “Do what?” 

He nodded. “Yeah, I think it would be fun. You can lead it. Like think up the designated weapons, locations, stuff like that.” 

I looked over at him. “You want me to think of up something so complicated over the span of a few days?” 

Mari leaned forward. “Since you and Paige are at school this weekend, I can come over on Friday. We could have a sleep over and plot it out. If you want.” 

I turned to the back and looked at the others. “What do you guys think?” 

Mack shrugged and looked up from her phone. “I think it’s a good idea. I'm not one for sleep overs, but I do like the sound of Assassin.” 

Paige nodded and I smiled. “Ok, that sounds good.” 

 

The rest of the week went by fast thankfully. Baran’s class was the last of the week and we did an obstacle course. It was nothing too terrible, although he did scream a lot. 

But, Friday evening finally rolled around. Mari came over after dinner for the sleep over. 

We sat around the sitting room, making plans for Assassin. It had already been decided that I was going to be the referee, and we had decided to use Nerf toys and bombs. Paige insisted that we use a computer virus. 

Mack frowned after Paige brought it up. “No come on that is not going to kill anyone.” 

Paige rolled her eyes and crunched a Reese Piece’s. “I could make it work. Let me try please please!” She clasped her hands together and looked at me. “Pleeeaasssee!!!” 

I looked over at Mack for help who just shrugged and crunched on a pretzel. We had liberated some snacks from the kitchen and were enjoying them as we planned war. Just like the Queens of old. 

“Well I guess…if you can figure it out Paige I have no issue with it.” 

She squealed and threw her arms around me. “Thank you!”

I untangled myself from her and smiled. “Ok! Moving on, are we wanting to fight against the boys, or do we want a free for all where last man standing is the winner.” 

Mari shrugged and chugged down some coke. “I say free for all.” 

“Fair enough. But where are we going to play?” 

 

“I think we should keep it around campus.” Mack said, “Easier to keep track of everything that is going on. Then that way, the police aren't called because a bunch of weirdos are shooting at each other with Nerf Guns or paintball guns or whatever.” 

I snickered a little at that one. “This is true, we don't want people to think we are just randomly shooting at each other. We might be arrested for assault.” 

Paige giggled. “It might be hard to do that considering they are toys.” 

Mari smirked. “Oh yeah, I can see that happening. You ladies are being arrested for assault with a deadly weapon. But Officer, it’s just a toy!” 

I was about to say something, but the wind chose that moment to kick up with a loud howl and spatter rain all over the window. I shuddered a little and rubbed my hands across my arms. “This is just creepy.” 

Mack looked over at me. “Oh come on, you are from Tennessee, you are used to storms like this.” 

“Yes, but those storms come to a place where there is land surrounding you. Where I am having issue is the fact that we are surrounded by water. There is no barrier.” 

Paige patted my hand. “It will be ok, we are quite safe you know. If something was going on, they would send down an alert.” 

I nodded my head. “Yeah, you're right I just-” The sudden flickering of the lights dimming off and then coming back on cut off my words. “Oh man!” 

Mack stood up. “Guess that is the end of our sleep over.” 

The rest of us stood up as well and started picking our stuff up. Paige walked over to the window to close the curtains. When she got to the window, she lifted her hand up and then jumped backwards and started to scream. 

We all rushed over to her and pulled her back from the window. She kept on screaming and pointing at the window. Mack finally had to grab her and shake her. “PAIGE! PAIGE! What is wrong?” 

She pointed at the window again and shrieked. “A face! There was someone looking in the window! I think it was a Vampire!” 

We all looked at the window, but all we saw was darkness and rain splattering. Mack huffed and shook her head. 

“You must have just imagined it Paige. There is nothing there.”

She nodded her head. “Yes, YES I saw something. It was a face. I am not crazy.” 

Mack sighed softly. “Fine, I will go and look and show you there is nothing there.” 

She walked over to the window and pushed it opened as the rest of us hung back by the couch. She stuck her head out and peered into the cold, inky blackness. She looked back and forth, then turned back to us. “There is nothing there Paige.” 

“I swear I-”

Mari patted her arm gently. “You probably thought you saw something, but there was nothing there. The weather can play tricks on your eyes.” 

I was about to agree, until I saw a hand reaching out to touch Mack’s shoulder. I let out a gasp and said, “Mack! Behind you!” 

She turned just in time for the arm to clamp down on her shoulder. She let out a yell and tried to yank away from the hand holding her. 

We all ran over to her and tried to pull her away from the window, but whatever had her, had a good grip. 

I finally gave a good hard pull and she came tumbling in. 

But imagine my surprise when not only did Mack fall in, but Aiden (who had been gripping her shoulder), along with Sammy and Damien. And all 3 boys were laughing. 

I helped Mack stand up and gaped at the laughing boys. “You assholes! How dare you scare us like that!” 

I guess my outraged cry was a little high pitched, which sent them into harder fits of laughter. Mack stomped over to Sammy and gave him a hard punch in the arm. He fell backward with a yelp, but kept laughing. Mari kicked Damien in the leg and he hopped up and down. “Ah babe, come on, I didn't mean it.” 

“You scared the shit out of us!” She told him in an almost shriek. “That was not right.” 

I walked over to Aiden and shoved him to the ground. “Jackass!” 

He sucked in a breath and looked up at me. “Oh come on, it was funny.” He grabbed my ankle and I kicked him again. “Stop that!” 

Paige sat down on the couch, her eyes huge. “Why are you guys here?” 

 

Sammy sat up a little and smiled. “Well, Aiden told us that you girls were planning an Assassin game and we wanted to come and see if we could join. We are getting ready to go on break and it’s going to be boring. And if I stay home, my dad is going to harangue me to clean the garage or something. Come on Mai.” 

I blew out a breath and looked at the other girls. When they just shrugged I crossed my arms and glared at the guys. “Fine, yes you guys can play. It’s going to be a free for all and just FYI, we were going to invite you anyway.” 

Sammy smiled at me, leapt to his feet and hugged me. “Thank you!” 

I pushed him away and rubbed my arms. “Eww, don't hug me. It’s no big deal.” 

He smiled at me, almost indulgently. “Come on you have met my dad, you just saved my life.” 

I sighed softly and shook my head. I was about to say something else, but a knock on the door stopped me. We froze for a second, just for a second. But then we jumped into action. Mack ran to the door and answered it. “Darby! How are you?” 

“I am fine Mack, some of the girls thought they heard screaming.” 

“No, no screaming. We were just playing.” 

“Well can I come in and look around?”

At that, Paige jumped over the back of the couch and went to the door. She pulled it opened and gestured with her hand. Mari and I shoved the boys towards the door and Paige shut it behind us.

Our relief was short-lived though when we heard Mack say loudly. “Really Darby, they are sleeping in there. You don't want to wake them up.” 

I groaned softly and looked around the room. The closet. I shoved the boys towards it and pulled the door opened. Sammy darted in with Damien hot on his heels. Aiden paused before going in. “You know Mai.” He breathed out, “Before I met you, things like this never happened to me.”

I smiled at him as the shut the door in his face. “Funny, I was just thinking the same thing about you.”


	15. Chapter 15

We thankfully didn't get busted with the boys in our bedroom. Once Darby left, we managed to get them out and gone. 

Aiden had offered to stick around and that had led to a bit of a forceful push by me to get him out of the room. Whether I pushed him out the window on purpose or not, eh you get to figure out yourself. 

Saturday and Sunday were spent strategizing Assassin, which meant we mostly checked out Wikipedia to get some ideas of how to ambush people and also double cross. 

When I winced at that one, Mari had just patted my back. “This is war Amaia. Wars need to be fought dirty sometimes. It’s the way of the world. 

I sighed. “Dirty fighting should never be a part of any fight or war.” 

Mack shook her head. “Are the Vampires fighting fair?” 

I opened and closed my mouth, then shook my head. “Ok, point taken. But! That doesn't mean that we have to stoop to that level of violence against them. Isn't there a saying, lay down with the dogs, you get their fleas?” 

Mari just rolled her eyes at me. “As someone who, for survival purposes, has had to get down with the dogs, they do have a nice flea powder that you can take to prevent that.” 

I sighed softly and stood up. “Ok, I'm going to leave you ladies to your battle plans, I'm going to go lay down.” 

They giggled behind me, but I ignored them. I am sure they would talk about me having a weak stomach or whatever behind my back, and I would just as soon let them. Stooping down to a bad level just because your enemy did, really didn't have to be the norm of things. People justified that in their minds because we had been programmed to think no other way. 

I flopped back on my bed and grabbed one of Elizabeth’s journal. “I bet YOU would agree with me Elizabeth.” I flipped the journal opened and read. 

Tennessee 1934  
Elizabeth sighed softly as she left her Human Anatomy class. It had been a hard class considering the professor never once called on her, or asked her opinion on a lecture that he had spent the last hour gassing on about. Tennessee may have been willing to admit women to their medical programs, but that sure didn't mean that the staff was on board with the idea. It hurt her a little that the professor, and by default the class thought of her as nothing more than an idiot female that had more fluff in her head than brains. She stomped by a group of young men, catching their talk about the rise of Adolph Hitler in Germany. She had been around long enough to know that men that rose to power completely unopposed often pushed ideals that people didn't agree with. But still, like cattle, they would follow the man’s rule. Because, it became a ‘You are either with us, or against us’ mentality. Which would make the county that was not involved mutter and natter to each other. About getting involved, not getting involved. Were the ideals right? Were they wrong? Would the man be stopped? On and on, they were worse than women at a knitting party. 

She hurried down the steps, leaving the men to their talk. She needed to stop by the store before going home. Unless Anthony had already done so, if he had remembered on his way home from work. She walked over to a small telephone booth and sat down on seat. She closed the door and picked up the phone. “Operator hello, I would like to make a call to Cypress 297 please.” 

“10 cents please.” 

Elizabeth popped a dime into the phone and listening to chiming noise. “Putting you through now Miss.” 

I listened to the cheerful tones of the phone ringing. I sighed softly as it kept ringing. I was starting to hang up when a breathless hello stopped the ringing. 

“Oh Anthony! I hope you didn't hurt yourself getting to the phone.” 

“No, no I was in the other room listening to the radio.”   
“Oh, well I wanted to know if you stopped off at the store, I was going to do it myself otherwise.” 

The silence on the other side of the line was telling. “I forgot.” 

Elizabeth side. “Such a man even if you are a Vampire. I will be home after I stop off at the store.” 

They said their goodbyes and Elizabeth stepped out of the phone booth and started walking down the street towards the Piggly Wiggly. She turned her collar up against the cold wind. New York winters had been cold, this was freeze your bones cold. Anthony made fun of her when she went out and put on a ton of layers, but who could blame her, it was cold! 

She stepped into the small store and walked up to the counter. “Good Afternoon, could I get a 1 pound Roast Chuck please?” The clerk nodded and wrapped it up. “Cooking a special dinner for your husband?” 

Elizabeth shook her head. “It’s my birthday. I thought I would treat myself.” 

The clerk smiled at her. “Well, have a happy one. We have some nice potatoes on sale for 5 cents a pound. And we also got some lovely wine in stock, now that Prohibition is over.” 

“That sounds great, thank you.” 

Elizabeth walked down the aisles grabbing things and putting it into small her basket. She did grab a bottle of wine, it’s her birthday. Even being a Dhampir, birthdays are big deals. 

She paid for her items and started walking home. 

When she arrived at the small house, she frowned at the darkened windows. “Anthony. You couldn't leave a light on for me?” 

She opened the door and sighed softly. “Anthony? Are you home?” She stepped into the living room “An-”

“SURPRISE!” 

Elizabeth jumped a foot and almost dropped her bags. There was Anthony. Dressed in a black shirt and a pair of black pants. Holding a balloon and flowers. “Happy Birthday!” 

Elizabeth smiled at him, “How did you know?” 

Anthony smiled back at her and took the bags handing her the roses and balloons. “Hey a good stalker always does their research you know.” 

Elizabeth laughed and moved into the kitchen with Anthony. “I am going to put these in water and-” The scene in the kitchen silenced her sentence and her heart simply stuttered. “There was a lovely dinner all laid out with candles and a badly frosted lopsided cake. She looked at him. “You fixed me dinner.”   
He nodded and she sat down. “It’s your birthday you know? You only have a birthday once a year.” 

She smiled at him. “This is very sweet, thank you.” 

He pulled out the bottle of wine and poured her a glass, then himself. He handed it to her and tapped the glasses together. “Happy Birthday Elizabeth.” 

He stared deep into her eyes as they sipped their wine. “There is something I wanted to talk to you about.” 

 

Mack looked over at me as we walked towards the quad early Monday morning. “So what did it say?” 

“No idea! Half of the page was ripped out and she moves on to something completely different on the next page. This is on top of the other pages that were ripped out!” 

Mack leaned down setting the small old fashioned alarm clock covered with wires down on the ground. “So do you think Elizabeth had a fling with a vampire?”

I shrugged as I helped her tie the wires together and wind it up. “I don't know, but I mean she said he wanted to talk to her about something and then the page was ripped out!” 

She smiled at me. “Maybe she did. Maybe they had hot nasty relations with each other!” 

I pushed her playfully. “Shut up Mack. That's…gross on so many levels.” 

She laughed softly and shrugged. “Well if they did, what does it matter?” 

“Well I mean, what about my Grandfather? Do you think she cheated on him?” 

Mack rolled her eyes. “Ok, first of all, you told me she met your grandfather in New York. In her journals, she is in Tennessee. And given the ages, your mom wasn't born until 1983, so your Grandmother wasn't born until 1960. Your Grandfather isn't in the picture yet.” 

I sighed softly. “Yes, you're right. Ok, I need to stop thinking about this. It's history.” 

Mack nodded. “Couldn't have said it better myself. Now let’s go.” 

The two of us ducked behind a bush to wait for Sammy to show up. Mack had sent him a message telling him to come and meet us in the quad area. We had the place to ourselves since everyone else was enjoying the lovely day after the storm blew out. Lucky ones who were allowed to leave campus.

So far, Mack, Mari, Sammy and Damien were the only ones left standing. Paige and Aiden had taken each other out and it had actually been an accident. Paige had tried to kill Aiden with a computer virus she rigged up to install in his car, but he had snuck up behind her and shot her. Then he saw the computer virus and died anyway. 

As kills went, it was pretty hysterical. 

So now, Mack had plans to get Sammy. “So what did you tell him to get him out here?” 

She smiled at me. “Told him I wanted to talk to him about the Halloween Dance and he needed to get here fast.” She whispered in a low voice.

“Oh, that is just mean Mack. He thinks you are going to ask him out.” 

She shrugged. “All’s fair in love and war. Also who says I'm not going to ask him.” 

I shook my head and was going to say something else but she shushed me and tugged me down. “Here he comes.” 

Sammy walked into the Quad area. He looked around for a second and then pulled out a small super soaker gun. He walked towards the bush where we were hiding, as he did, Mack muttered. “Come on, come on.” 

Sammy was just a few feet away from the bush when the sudden shrill of an alarm clock went off. Sammy jumped a foot and Mack stood up, dragging me up with her. “HA! I got you Sammy!” 

Sammy looked over at her and opened his mouth to say something when Mari popped out of the bush across from us. She aimed her gun at Mack and fired. A small splat of blue appeared on Mack’s forehead. I blinked as Mari started to jump up and down. “I GOT YOU MACK!” 

Mack stood stock still. She reached up and touched her forehead. She looked at Mari and blinked her eyes. “What the hell!” 

Mari smiled. “This is what is called an ambush!” 

Mack looked over at me and then back at Mari. “I have the ref standing right here.” 

Mari looked at me and I opened and closed my mouth. Ok, this was well within the rules, ambushes were part of life. But on the other hand, the game master always had to know what the players were planning. I had not been told. 

I took a breath and looked at everyone. “Ok, the ambush was a good idea, but, Mari you didn't tell me that you had this planned. So, this kill doesn't count." 

She blew out a breath and stomped off. Sammy looked at us and then at the bomb. “So, am I dead too?” 

I shook my head. “I think we should just call this a draw.” 

Mack blew out breath. “I need a shower.” She jumped over the bush and moved towards the dorms. I sighed softly and followed behind her. 

After Mack took a shower, Mari and I sat down in the living room. 

“Ok, so two things are going to happen. One, no paintball guns, you could have hurt her with that one. And two, you have to remember to tell me that you are going to do.” 

“Well just as long as you give me permission to ambush Mack.” 

I sighed softly. “Well, I mean, I don't see anything wrong with it. And it is an Assassin game so you have to play it to get other people. Do you have a plan for as of when?” 

“Well, she plans on getting Sammy again, so when she does I will do it then again.” 

I nodded my head. “Yeah that sounds fair.” 

She smiled and rubbed her hands together. “This is going to be so great.”

 

She got up and danced out of the room and I flopped against the couch. Paige came out of the room holding some parts to her computer. 

“What happened?” 

She looked down at the parts. “Oh, I don't need these since I put my own parts in. So, I was going to give them to Gavin. Want to go with?” 

I raised an eyebrow. “What would Gavin use them for? You barely know him.” 

“I'm not sure. He tinkers with stuff.” She said ignoring my second question. “Want to go to town with me to drop it off or not?” 

“How? We don't have a ride.” 

She smiled, a little too sweetly. “Yes we do.” 

 

“Paige! Did you steal this car?” 

Paige looked at me and rolled her eyes. “No I didn't steal this car! I am borrowing it from Aiden.” 

I looked over the blue Ford Focus and bit my lip. “I can't believe he agreed to this.” 

She opened the door and slid into the car. “Hop in naysayer.” 

I took a breath and slid into the car and shut the door. As I slid on my seatbelt I looked over at Paige and widened my eyes. “Um…what are you doing?” 

She looked over at me. “Hot wiring the car.” 

“Why not use the key?” 

She smiled at me. “I don't have the key. I told you we are borrowing the car.” 

“You do know without the owner’s permission this is stealing.” 

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, please Amaia. Stealing is where you forcibly take something from someone. Aiden doesn't know I am taking this car and we will have it back before he knows.” 

“Benign theft is still theft.” 

“Come on, a little trouble making never hurt anyone.” 

 

“Shit.” I muttered under my breath. 

Paige was a fairly good driver. She jerked the car a few times leaving stop signs, but other than that, we made it down to Gavin’s garage in one peace. 

He was standing outside talking to a woman and holding a part in his hand. We got out of the car and waited while he finished with the customer. When he was done, he walked over to us and smiled. “Paige!” He gave her a sweet little side hug and then smiled at me. “Hey Amaia.” 

“Hey Gavin.” 

He looked around me. “I like the car.” 

I smirked a little. “It belongs to my friend Aiden. Paige stole it.” 

Gavin blinked and then roared with laughter. “Well that is something you don't hear every day.” 

Paige rolled her eyes. “I didn't steal it, I am borrowing it for a short trip to see you and then we are taking it right home. And Aiden is my friend too.” 

Gavin smiled and pulled her closer. “Then I am sure he won't mind. So what did you bring me?” 

She holds out the bag holding the various computer parts. “Stuff from my computer, I thought you could use it. And I also wanted to ask if you wanted to come to our Halloween dance at school.” 

Gavin blinked his eyes. “Your what now?” 

She sighed. “On Saturday, we are having a Halloween Dance. We get to wear costumes, dance around and stuff.” 

He smiled at her and nodded. “Sure, I will come.” He kissed the side of her head. “Ok, I gotta get back to work.” 

She nodded. “I will text you the info. You have to wear a costume.” 

He nodded. “I can do that. See ya.” 

We got back into the car and I looked over at her. “Ok so…we met him like once almost a month ago. Why is he kissing on you?” 

She smiled. “I have been texting him and when I spend time with Mom on weekends, I go over and visit with him. So we have gotten pretty close.”

“And you chose not to tell any of us because…” 

She shrugged. “Because it wasn't really a big deal. I mean we are not dating or anything.” 

“Oh, ok then.” 

We drove back to the school and pulled into Aiden’s spot. I breathed a small sigh of relief. We had not gotten caught by Aiden, we weren't really in trouble if anyone spotted us because we just weren't supposed to go off campus after dark. And technically, we went as a pair so I wasn't alone. 

We walked back up to the dorm room and my relief balloon started to deflate when I spotted Aiden sitting on the couch, twirling his keys. 

“So, anyone want to explain this one?” 

I smiled sweetly and turned. “Paige? Want to tell Aiden what’s up.” 

She smiled “Well…Aiden my buddy my pal.” 

 

The next day, Mack and I walked back out to the quad, sans Paige who was currently in a little bit of trouble from her mom for stealing Aiden’s car. She had tried to use the borrowing lecture that she had given me, but her mom didn't buy it. 

“I can't believe you are going to try and bomb Sammy again.” 

She shrugged her shoulders. He bought it last time, he won't ever see it coming this time. Plus, thanks to Paige, I have modified it.” 

I sighed softly. “Well it’s just you and him and Mari left.” 

“What happened to Damien?” 

“Apparently Mari got him last night.”

“Ah.” She said and set the bomb down. She grabbed my arm and ducked into the bushes. “So what is the excuse this time? He might be suspicious.” 

She smiled at me. “I know. So I didn't invite him. Paige did.” 

“But Paige is in trouble.” 

“He doesn't know that.” 

You had to love Mack’s sneakiness for sure. 

We sat in the bushes for a few minutes whispering to each other when we heard footsteps. We stood up a little and peered over the top of the bushes. Sammy walked up the sidewalk. He had ear buds in and seemed oblivious to the world. 

Mack grinned and pulled a string from under the bush. I frowned. “What is that?” 

She shook her head and whispered. “Just watch.” 

I kept myself down behind bush as she pulled the string hard. There was a loud pop and when I peered over the top of the bush, Sammy was standing next to where the bomb was. Now he was covered with blue confetti. Mack jumped up. “I got you Sammy!” 

She jumped up and down whooping. “I got him! I got Sammy!” 

Sammy started to say something when Mari popped out of the bushes across from us, armed with a bow and rubber tipped arrow. “Well now I am going to get you.” 

She fired the arrow. The arrow bounced off of Mack and hit the ground, Mack stared at it and then looked at me. I shrugged. “It’s legal, she asked.” 

Mack smiled. “Oh, I know she asked. And when Damien asked me, I said we would love to have him show up.” 

“I blinked. “But Damien got hit by Mari last night.” 

Damien stepped out from behind a tree armed with a Super Soaker. “Nope. I didn't.” He started spraying all of us. Even poor Sammy who was still in shock after being hit with blue confetti. 

I squealed when the cold water hit me. “Hey! I am not even in this game.” 

Damien just laughed. 

Mack walked up beside Sammy. "Hey, I was wondering if you would like to be my date for the Halloween dance and bonfire." 

Sammy slung his arm around Mack's shoulders. "Well, you know even though you just killed me, I think I'll say yes.”

I smiled. “Kissy, kissy, kissy!” 

After we cleaned up our mess in the quad, we all went to the cafeteria for some lunch. School was out, but we still needed to be fed. But most of what we were getting was sandwiches. We all sat around chatting and eating. Aiden walked over and sat down next to me. He flicked a strand of my hair. “How did you get wet?” 

“An ambush that turned into another ambush.” 

He smirked a little. “I see. Well, that is what you get for leading a game that has deadly assassins in it.” 

I rolled my eyes. “At least I wasn't killed off just as the game was starting.” 

“No, you died the 3rd day in. AND you weren't even playing.” 

“Oh shut up Aiden.” 

He chuckled warmly and started to say something else when his phone rang. “Oh, I gotta get this. See ya.” 

Damien waited until Aiden was gone before saying. “So, after the dance, Sammy is going to sneak you guys out of the room and then I will meet you in the quad. We just have to walk down a bit before we get to the woods that will take us down to where we are all meeting.” 

“How do we get down to the woods?” Mack asked as she munched on a chip. 

“ATVs.” 

Mack frowned at him. “I have never ridden one.” 

Sammy smiled. “I know how to ride one, you can ride with me.” 

Paige (who had joined us for lunch after we got there) dipped her cookie into milk. “I can ride one. And I think Mari can too.” 

Damien nodded. “Ok, what about you Amaia?” 

I shook my head. “Never had the pleasure of getting onto one.” 

He nodded. “Then you can ride with me.” 

I bit my lip a little. Sneaking out was a little creepy. Riding with Damien struck me as creepier. I brushed that off and smiled. “That sounds good to me.” 

He nodded. “It’s going to be an amazing night.” 

 

We spent the next couple of days just hanging out and relaxing. We also talked about doing another Assassin game. Maybe one that lasted longer than 3 days. 

Finally, Friday rolled around. Everyone in the school seemed to be making a huge fuss over the Halloween Dance. They were also talking about March’s dance, even though it was still 5 months away. Girl’s dashed between rooms, went out and got their nails done, hair done. It seemed silly for just one day. But if it made them happy. Our room, was pretty relaxed. We started getting ready about 4ish. It wasn't long before Mack, Paige, Amaia and Mari were gone. In their place was Little Red Riding Hood, Glenda the Good Witch, Keiko the Ninja and Brown Hair the Pirate. 

We walked out of the Dorm and met at the bottom of the stairs, a Vampire with a silly pompadour and a gray pea coat. He had body glitter all over his face and hands. I looked over at the Ninja and smiled. “Your date for the evening.” She just laughed a little and moved towards Sammy. “Wow…you really know how to make a girl swoon.” 

The Phantom was standing next to him holding a red rose. He offered it to me. “My lady.” 

I smiled and took the rose. I pressed it to my nose and smiled at him. “Thank you Phantom. Shall I sing for you?” 

He took my arm. “Come on, stop being silly.” 

Mari pushed back her hat. “Where is Damien?” 

“Behind you dear.” We all turned to see Damien dressed up as a clown, complete with a red nose. Mari let out a scream, drew back her fist and punched him right in the red nose. There was a loud squeak and Damien grabbed his face. “Ow! Mari! What the hell!” 

She hit him again and then kicked at him when he hit the ground. Mack grabbed her by the waist and yanked her away. 

Damien got up and crawled up the stairs holding his face as Mari screamed out. “I hate clowns! He knew that too! The son of a bitch! I TOLD YOU DAMIEN!” 

He groaned as Aiden helped him to his feet. “Sammy, please take the girls to the dance. I will meet you guys there.” 

He led Damien down the stairs (far away from Mari) and towards the boy’s dorms. The rest of us just headed off for the gym. We talked quietly amongst ourselves, we were all curious as to what the gym would look like tonight. 

As we got to the building, we saw a sign hung up with big letters that said ‘HAPPY HALLOWEEN’. 

When we were closer we heard the bass to some song, which turned out to be Marilyn Manson's ‘This is Halloween’. 

I squealed a little and hurried to the doors. As soon as I touched the handle, a voice from the side said. "Welcome, we have been expecting you." 

We all jumped a little and then laughed nervously. Paige looked over to see a mechanical figured dressed as a butler and started to laugh as we walked in.

 

Fog covered the floor so thick it seemed like something could pop up from the floor without any notice. 

The tables had orange table cloths with black netting over them. Flameless candles sat in the middle of them each had a different design on them. 

To the left, there were serving tables and each had a mechanical figure by it. 

The lights dimmed, but had just light so no one would run into anything or anyone. As we moved further in, we noticed some games like bobbing for apples had been set up to. 

"I have to hand it to them. It looks like they've gone out of their way to make this a cool dance." Mack said. “So, I'm officially impressed!” 

We picked a table that was in the middle and sat down. Once we were settled, Paige looked down at her phone.

“Hey, Gavin just texted he's pulling in I'm going to go meet him at the door, ok?” She stood up and walked towards the doors we just came through. 

"Well, don't know about any of you but I'm thirsty." Sammy said as he stood. "You want anything Mack?" 

"Yeah, get me some good ole punch and make sure to drop a few eye balls in it. If they have them." Mack replied with a laugh. 

Sammy just shook his head as he left. A few seconds later, Aiden and Damien, (who looked like a werewolf now), appeared. Aiden sat down next to me while Damien plopped down next to Mari. 

Paige appeared at the table again and sat down with Gavin who was dressed in a nice shirt and pair of jeans. Sammy walked back over with Mack’s drink and handed it to her. “Where is your costume?” He asked Gavin as he sat down next to Mack. 

Gavin shrugged his shoulders. “Didn’t realize it was mandatory.” 

Paige shook her head. “Don’t listen to them Gavin. They are not mandatory.” 

We all chatted with each other for a few minutes when the DJ’s voice boomed over the speakers. 

 

"Hello all you out there. I'm DJ Jackson and I will be your music director tonight. So, if there is anything you want played please have no fear come tell me. We are kicking it off now with a slow song! Here is Play It Again by Luke Bryan!” 

Mack just stood up and grabbed Sammy's hand and headed for the dance floor smiling. Paige decided to follow with Gavin. 

Aiden looked around at the people left at the table. "Well, isn't this awkward." I looked over at him and raised my eyebrow. "Fine, Amaia would you care to dance with me?" Aiden asked as he went to stand. 

“Well, gee I don't know you sound so enthused about it." I replied. "Not asking again." The vampire said with a smirk. 

With a roll of my eyes, I took his hand and we joined the others in the middle of the dance floor. 

Mack and Sammy danced up next to us, but her eyes were over at the table. 

"What are you frowning about?" Sammy asked. 

Mack pointed toward the table. "Mari, she looks so damn miserable." 

Sammy turned his head to look. “You’re right, but what can we do about it?” 

“Yeah, what CAN we do about it?" Mack asked with an impish grin. 

"Do I even want to know what you’re planning?" The brown haired Dhampir asked. 

"It's nothing bad." Mack told him as she patted his chest and turned to the DJ as the song ended. Sam just laughed and followed Aiden and I back to the table. 

"What's Mack doing?" Mari asked Sammy as he sat down. 

Sammy took a drink of his punch before he answered. "I have no idea and figured best not to pry." 

We all nodded in agreement. With Mack, it's just best to let it go sometimes. Though we weren't in suspense long. Mack was back in no time. 

"Ok, my girls, we are fixing to show these people how to have some fun. Come on we need to get out on the dance floor." Mack said as she went and tugged Mari out of her chair. 

"What did you do Mack?" Mari ask even as she stood and followed her friend. Next Mack got Paige and I up hustling us along until we were back in the middle of the dance floor. 

DJ Jackson came back on over the speaker. "Ladies and gentlemen it seems that you all are fixing to be entertained by some very nice girls. On request, the Backstreet Boys with Everybody! As the song plays, the four ladies you see are going to do the dance for you. Ok, ladies go." 

"What do you think you’re trying to do? I'm not dancing in front of all of these people." I said as turned to walk back to the table.

But Mack grabbed my skirt. "Hey, it's no big deal we all know the dance from the video game so just act like you’re playing the game." 

The music started and the other two looked at us. Then Paige said "Screw it, let's have fun tonight and not worry about what others think." With that said, we started showing off our dance skills or lack of. As the song played, we all loosened up more and other people joined in. 

When the song ended, everyone started clapping. Mack just bowed and waved as she walked to the table. "I have to say that was very entertaining.” Sammy said as she sat down by him. "We didn't realize you girls had such skills." 

Mack drank the rest of her punch before she answered. "Oh, I have plenty of skills you don't know about, darling." She smirked and then looked around the table. "So, what next?" 

"I vote food and drinks." I said. Everyone else agreed, so we got up and went to the refreshment tables. At the tables, we talked and laughed over the Halloween figures and how some of the foods are named. We went back to our table and started to eat and just listen to the music. The DJ was playing an old school song called ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’. 

"I have to say, I'm glad Paige invited me. I'm having a real good time." Gavin said as he finished his severed hot dog finger sandwiches. "It has been fun so far." Paige chimed in. The song changed to One Republic's ‘Apologize’ came on. 

Damien over at Mari who was talking to Aiden. He looked at the DJ then back at Mari. 

He stood and tapped her on the arm to get her attention. "My I have this dance?" He asked as he holds out his hand. She looks at him for several heart beats before she stood up and took his hand. 

"Finally, I was wondering when he would pull his head out of his ass." Paige said as they walked to the dance floor. 

 

The rest of the night passed quickly. We had a blast between dancing eating and checking out the games.

Toward the end of the night, Mack tapped my arm gently. “It’s Time.” 

I grinned widely. Time to ditch Aiden and head out into the woods. The night was going to be amazing!


	16. Chapter 16

We were all still laughing and teasing each other as we made it to the dorms after saying good night to Gavin. 

"OK, we have half an hour to meet the guys. Meet you back here in a few." Mari said as she quickly went to her room. The three of us rushed up to our room and started changing as fast as we could. We didn't want to keep the guys waiting also we were all looking forward to having some fun tonight.

Of course leave it to my conscience to start kicking in as I pull my bathing suit out of my drawer. Everything that could go wrong seemed to running through my mind. 

I sighed and pulled on a purple striped bikini and then pulled on some leggings and hoodie. “This is so stupid, it’s freezing out there and we are going to get in water that is probably frigid.” I mumbled not thinking anyone heard me.

Mack rolled her eyes and pulled on sweat pants and a sweat shirt. “So stay here.” 

“No way, I'm no coward. Besides, it sounds like it’s going to be fun.” I said the last part more for myself, trying to build my excitement up.

We finished dressing and met Mari in the hallway. We quietly went down the stairs and stepped out into the chilly night air. Sammy and Damien waited for us at the bottom of the steps. 

Like thieves, we slipped into the darkness and headed down the hill tree-lined barrier around the school. I managed to keep my giggles in as we walked over to the ATVS. I was just about to get onto one with Damien when I heard a voice. 

"Well, well what do we have here?" 

“Shit.” I muttered to myself as Aiden appeared out of the darkness. “What are you doing here?” 

He gave me a long look. “Oh, I don't know. I was doing my nightly security walk and what do I find but a group of Blues sneaking off into the woods.” 

He stepped toward me. “So I wondered, why you are sneaking off into the woods. And then I remember about idiot boys’ bonfire.” He gestured towards Damien. "So, looks to me that we have a little problem."

"Technically we only have a problem if you make it one. “You could come with us instead of getting us all in trouble." Mari said as she stood by Damien. 

 

 

Aiden shook his head. “Sorry guys, it sucks being the adult sometimes. But, I'm charged with keeping the students at this school safe.”

"You are an asshole.” I said with venom in my voice. 

He gave me a long look with those intense green eyes and took a step toward me. My friends (the cowards) stepped back when he moved, but I actually took a step to meet him in the middle. I was shaking on the inside but hoping my face didn't show the fear. 

“I am an asshole?” Aiden ask with a frown.

"Yes, you are. All we want to do is have a little fun tonight and you could join us, but you want to snitch on us." I said and crossed my arms. 

"I never said I was going to snitch. I just said I couldn't let you all go off and party." Aiden growled. 

"Whatever, like Mari said you have the option of going with us. Instead you want to be a stick in the mud e." I replied. The cold slid between my layers and is making me mad. Stupid vampire always ruining my fun.

Aiden snorted and said sarcastically. “You probably think I should just say: Oh, it's fine for you kids run along and party. I'll just make sure I'm close enough in case there is any trouble."

I smiled at him. “Thank you.” 

Before he could reply, I ran over to Damien and slid onto the back of the ATV. He smiled quickly at me and turned on the Radio that was hooked over the handle bars. Florida Georgia Line blared out ‘This Is How We Roll’. Damien put the ATV in gear and we zoomed out into the woods. I heard Aiden swear behind me and then another ATV started behind us. Damien hit the gas on the ATV which made me scream and tighten my grip around his waist. 

When we finally made it to the clearing, I leapt off the ATV and almost fell onto my ass. “You jerk! Why would you do that?” 

He looked at me with innocent eyes. “Do what?” 

I punched him in the arm, which knocked him off the ride and landed him on his ass. “Race through the woods like your tail was on fire or something. You could have killed us!” 

Damien got to his feet and smirked. “I have amazing reflexes.” 

I rolled my eyes and looked over as the other ATV's roared up. I stifled a groan as Aiden jumped off the back of the one Sammy was driving. Mari, Paige and Mack had been crammed onto the 3rd one. I walked over to Aiden. “So, decided to join us for a night of fun after all?” I ask in my most innocent voice. 

He glared at me as he crossed his arms. I could tell he was pissed at what I had done. “It seems I had no choice in the matter since you kids lack mature judgement and can't be trusted. Though make no mistake little girl. You and I will be having a conversation about tonight.” 

I was about to spew out what a huge ass hole he was again, but Damien cleared his throat. “Um guys, shall we get going?” 

With a huff of breath, I turned to Damien. “Lead the way.” 

Damien grinned at us and started walking. Mack fell into step beside me and smiled impishly. “You know, I think I know why you and Vampy fight with each other so much.” 

“Do tell.” 

She smiled bigger. “They say passion and hate run a very fine line with each other.” 

“Shut up Mack.” 

She smiled at me. “Come on, just admit you like him. If you didn't, you wouldn't get so pissed off at him.” 

I looked at her and shook my head. “No comment from this side of the woods.” 

Before she could say anything, I ran ahead to where Damien was walking. I fell into step next to him and he looked over at me. 

“What’s up?” 

“Didn't want to walk with Mack anymore. So, I thought I would come over to see what you were doing.” 

He smirked at me and slid his arm around my waist and then before I could jerk away, his hand slid to my ass and gave it a squeeze. I squealed and shoved away from him. He gave me a perplexed look. 

“What? I thought we were….” 

I looked over at Aiden whose green eyes snapped with anger. "You thought wrong. Unless you want to lose that hand. Don't do it again.” 

He followed my gaze to Aiden and then nodded. “Apologies, must have misread you.” 

I said nothing, but I started walking again. I moved ahead of the others towards the blaring music. I finally made it to the clearing and blinked at the sight in front of me. 

There was a huge bonfire set up in the middle of the clearing that everyone was standing around in various states of dress, some were wearing bathing suits, some were dressed in regular clothes and some were in Halloween costumes. There were 5 ice chests set up in the edge of the trees, and a small CD player had been set up on a plastic table that was blaring out ‘Cruise’ by Florida Georgia Line. Damien stepped over to one of the ice chests and pulled out a green bottle. I sighed softly, of course, I rejected his advances and now he was going to get shit faced. Men. 

I turned and moved around the bonfire to look on the other side. A small path led to a rickety looking dock that led into a large pond. Next to the path, a huge yellow sheet of plastic was laid out on the dirt. A girl with short dark hair was pouring water along the plastic while a boy was spraying soap onto the water. So that was the Soap n Slide. I walked over to the plastic and kicked off my shoes. 

“Can I try it?” 

The girl smiled. “Sure, be careful though.” 

I pulled off my hoodie and leggings folded them into a neat pile. I squealed when the cold air nipped at my skin. The girl laughed. 

“Yeah, should have warned you.” 

I smiled at her, took a few steps back and leapt forward. I squealed again when I hit the water and it sprayed up around me. 

I got to the end and stood up hooting and hollering. Aiden stepped up next to me and handed me a towel. I rubbed the towel over my dark hair and then wrapped it around me. 

“Are you going to try it?”

He shook his head. “Nope, I might catch a cold.” 

My bug eyed look must have amused him because he smirked at me. “I'm joking. Sheesh.” 

“You know you are being pretty friendly for someone that was pissed at me less than 10 minutes ago.” 

He shrugged. “I guess I am a glutton for punishment. Besides, if I did leave you alone, who would you annoy?” 

“Oh, I would find some willing victim.” 

He shrugged his shoulders. “Well, good luck with that, I'm going to go scare up something to drink.” 

“Watch out for the squrimers! You don't want to nick a vein!” 

He stopped walking for a second, gave me a long look and then started walking again. 

I smiled to myself and walked over to the edge of the pond. I looked out into the water and watched the kids splashing around. 

The sound of running footsteps made me half turn. I had a split second to see Mack’s smiling face when she hit me full force and we tumbled into the water with a huge splash. 

Once in the water, I kicked away from her and broke to the service gasping for air. I looked over at her with a glare. “What the hell!” 

She grinned at me and splashed water at me as the other two jumped into the water. “Well you looked lonely over here, so we thought we would join you.” 

I rolled my eyes and splashed her back. “I wasn't lonely, I was just looking at the water.” 

Mari swam over. “What is the point of looking at the water if you are not going to go in?” 

“Well it’s freezing for one thing. And for another, how do we know what is in this water?” 

Paige laughed and flipped onto her back, her skin broke out in goose bumps. “Oh Amaia, relax and enjoy yourself. 

I sighed softly as the freezing water slid over my body. “How did you ditch Gavin?” 

She smiled and kicked her legs so she went to her back. “Oh, I told him I would text him after I got back to the dorm. He was fine with it. He would have come, but he has to work at the shop tomorrow.” 

Another splash drew my attention the shore and I sighed softly. “That man needs to take a vacation.” 

Paige smiled at me. “Well if he did, you wouldn't have any joy in your life at all.” As she swam past me, I caught the faint sound of Kiss the Girl. I growled and splashed her. “Shut up Paige.” 

I kicked my feet and moved towards the rickety dock. When I made it over, I pulled myself out and settled down on the splintered wood. 

Aiden swam over and sat at my feet. “Your lips are turning blue.” 

I rolled my eyes and kicked my feet. “I'm fine.” 

He chuckled, pulled himself out of the water and sat next to me. “Why are you in such a mood tonight?” 

I sighed softly. “I really don't know.” 

He leaned over and wrapped his arm around me. “Maybe you are just tired. Baran has been working you pretty hard this week.” 

I sighed and leaned against him. “Maybe. Maybe it’s the fact I don't really want to be here.” 

He shifted a little so he could look at me. “So why are you here?” 

I sighed softly. “Originally, it was to piss you off and get a break. But now I want a warm bed.” 

He smiled at me. “So let’s go. I will drive you back.” 

“I can't. I made a huge deal about this, got so excited.” 

“But you are not having fun.” 

I was about to agree with him, when there was a sudden silence and screams of the other kids around the bonfire. I couldn't catch everything, but one word rang out. “Vampire!” 

I looked at Aiden and then the other girls. They had gone stock still in the water. I got to my feet and started to run. I heard Aiden yell at the other girls to get out of the water and run. I ran down the dock and through the path to where my clothes were sitting. I came to a halt and grabbed them and started tugging them on. 

I felt a strong hand grab my arm and yank me as I was sliding on my shoes. I looked up into Aiden’s green eyes that were ice hard. “What the hell!” 

“I needed my-”

He didn't let me finish before he yanked my arm again, almost out of the socket and made me run. 

Once we moved into the tree line, he scooped me up into his arms. “You are such a little idiot. You could have gotten yourself killed!” 

“I was TRYING to get my shoes.” 

“You could have ran barefoot.” 

“There are stickers.” 

He growled under his breath and set me down on the ground. He got onto one of the ATV’s and looked at me. “Get on right now.” 

“But the others-”

“Are fine. Sammy is here. Now get on the damn ATV.” 

I blew out a breath and slid on behind him. He growled and I thought I heard the word idiot. 

I was about to say something when we zoomed into the woods. 

The earlier ride with Damien had been scary, this was scarier. But oddly calming. Aiden, I knew, had great reflexes, so I knew I was safe with him. Sadly, this did nothing to make me less angry at being called an idiot.” 

We drove at top speed until we got to the edge of the lawn leading up to the school. I blew out a breath when he turned off the ATV and slid off onto shaky legs. I turned when the rest of the ATV's roared up and everyone got off. I walked over to the small group, minus Damien. “You guys ok?”

Mack nodded and rubbed her face. “I thought one was going to get me, but I hit the gas and left that thing in the dust.” 

Aiden sighed heavily. “Let’s save the back patting for tomorrow. We need to get you all to your rooms.” 

Since I was too tired and scared to argue, we followed Aiden’s directions and went up the stairs. We talked quietly amongst ourselves as we climbed the stairs to the second floor. Paige and I were talking and I didn't realize that Mack and Mari had stopped until we plowed into them. “Guys what-” I blinked my eyes at the sight of Baran standing at the end of the hall with his arms crossed. We stood there like deer in the headlights as he glared at us. 

The silence finally broke when he smiled, like a wolf coming upon a lamb. “Well, well. Isn't this interesting?”

Mack gave him a small smile. “Isn't it just?” 

 

Officially we were grounded. We were allowed to go to class and that was about as far as it went. We were not allowed to do anything else. 

It got worse when our mom’s found out what we had done. There was no screaming, but there was a lot of disappointed looks thrown our way on top of lectures that made us feel bad. I think by the time Paige and I were done talking to them, we would have been willing to walk on glass to make it up to them. 

 

I figured after the scare at the Bonfire, that we would have enough sense to behave during lock down. 

But I didn't count on Friday the 6th. Or the fact the girls would REALLY want to leave. Or the trouble it all would cause. 

It started off as ordinary. We went to class, had lunch and got run into the ground in Baran’s class. 

When we got back to our room, I settled down to do my homework.

I should have been tipped off with the fact that when Mack and Paige walked in, they were WAY too quiet. They barely glanced at me when they walked in. After they walked into the room and shut the door, I counted to three, got up, went to the door and pushed it opened.

“What is-Oh my God!” 

I ran over to the window where Mack was leaning over the side, I grabbed her arm and yanked her back. She yelled out as only half of her came out, the other half stayed against the window. I heard a thump and blinked my eyes. “What the hell?” 

Paige’s head popped up in the window. “We are trying to sneak out.” 

Mack glared at her. “Thank you Paige. You must have missed the stealth part of sneaking out.” 

“Wait, you guys are sneaking out and you didn't invite me?”  
Mack sighed. “Well we didn't think you would go for it. And with Aiden always on your tail...” 

“I can sneak out without him. Paige and I managed to do it.” 

She smiled and leaned her chin on the seal. “Well that is because I stole his car. We are not doing that this time.” 

“So where are you going and how are you getting there?” 

Mack sighed. “Mari is going to have Damien drive us. We are going to the movies.” 

I frowned. “I want to go with you guys.” 

Mack looked at Paige and then looked at me. “Well as long as Vampy doesn't pop up then I have no issue.” 

I smiled. “Well then let’s go out the window.” 

We managed to sneak out and get down to the movie theater. Mack bought tickets to Big Hero 6 and I bought the sodas. Paige bought the popcorn. Mari got the candy. 

We walked into the movie theater, sat down and thought we were home free. How wrong we were. 

The first thing that happened was Paige spilled her soda all over my lap. It was an accident, but that made me stand up fast. Which made me spill the popcorn all over the floor.   
Mack sat on the other side of us and smirked. “Hmm have a little soda with your popcorn there?” 

I glared at her, as I leaned down to try and clean up the mess with the napkins. Paige leaned down next to me and helped me clean up the mess. 

“Sorry Mai, I am stupid when it comes to sodas.” 

“It’s ok Paige. Accidents happen.” 

We got the mess cleaned up, and then went and refilled our popcorn and soda. When we came back, the previews had started. I sat down next to Mack and offered her some popcorn. She took a handful and settled back to the watch the previews. 

Just as the lights started to dim, Mari handed out the candy. I had just taken a nibble out of my Twizzler when I heard a VERY familiar voice say. “Good thing we didn't miss the movie.” The voice moved to the row in front of us. 

“Oh shit.” I whispered to myself. I turned to Mack. “Get Mari and go down the aisle. Just do it.” 

I stood up, grabbed Paige’s arm and ran down the aisle to the door. Once we were out, we waited a few seconds for Mack and Mari. Then we walked down to the bathroom. Once we were in, I drug them to the back of the bathroom and stood by where the sinks are. 

“Oh my god, this is bad. This is so bad!” Paige muttered. 

Mack looked at me like Paige had lost her mind. “Um, what is her problem?”

“Our moms are in the theater right now.” 

Mack blinked her eyes. “Are you kidding me?” 

I shook my head as Mari groaned. “No, I am very much not kidding.” 

Mack groaned. “Well then we have to go. Let’s just go.” 

The sound of the door opening made us duck beside a stall. I poked my head out and groaned. “Shit its Laura.” 

Paige groaned softly. “She is going to kill me. I am so dead!” 

Mack, not one to stand on ceremony, kneeled down and slid under the stall. I yelped softly when she reached out and grabbed my ankle. “Come on!” 

It took us all less than five seconds to slide under the stall. Once we were in the handicap stall we felt better. Until we all realized we were in the handicap stall and were trapped. 

Mack huffed out a breath and whispered. “Ok, we have to get to the door.” 

Paige rolled her eyes. “Oh gee Mack. However did we survive without you to lead us? We would be so lost.” 

Mack rolled her eyes. “We are going to crawl under the stalls, get to the door and go out the front.” 

Mari hesitated for a split second. “I am in.” 

I sighed. “Yeah let’s do it.” 

Paige nodded, and Mack smiled. “Ok, follow me.” She got down on her hands and knees and started crawling under the wide bottoms of the stalls. Mari followed behind her, with Paige behind Mari and me trailing behind. 

If you have never crawled under bathroom stalls, I can tell you it is the most awkward thing in the world. It got way more awkward when we crawled under a stall that was occupied. 

The woman jumped a foot. “What are you doing?” She shrieked out. 

Mack kept crawling, but Mari slowed down long enough to smile at her. “Nothing to see here, just carry on with your business. We mean you no harm.” Paige pressed her hands against Mari’s butt. “Would you go and not talk to people?” 

Mari smiled and kept crawling. When we got to the end, we crawled out and ran out the door. We ran down the small ramp and out the front door. “Wow that was fun.” Paige said sarcastically. “Remind me to spend more movie nights with you guys.” 

“So question?” When they all looked at me and smiled. “Um how are we going to get back to the dorm? We can't hang around out here.” 

Mari sighed softly. “We start walking until we get to a good spot and call Damien to come and get us.” 

We sighed along with her and started walking. We chatted amongst ourselves, as we walked. As we came around a long stretch of road, I heard a noise behind us. Thinking it was Aiden, I turned to look and was suddenly knocked to the ground. “Ow! What the hell!” 

I stood up and turned to look at the guy who had just knocked me down. He was a tall guy, with dark hair and dark green eyes. He gave a small smirk. “Well, well. Do we have 3 red riding hoods on the way to grandmother’s house?” 

Mack chuckled. “Who is this ass hole?” 

His smirk bloomed into a smile. “Well I am the ass hole that is going to kill you all. Because you see, I'm a vampire. And Vampires like to eat Dhampirs like you for breakfast.” 

Mack’s joking, relaxed stance suddenly tightened. She turned her head a little as the Vampire paced in front of us. 

“Run, go find Aiden. I know that stalker is around here somewhere.” 

“But Mack you-”

She shot me a glare. “Go, get out of here, I will hold this ass off.” 

I took a breath, prepared to argue. But Paige grabbed my arm and tugged. “Come on, we can help her better if we find Aiden.” 

I gave one last look to Mack before I started to run with the others. 

 

Mack stood in front of the vampire as she listened to the girls run for help. She hoped to hell Aiden was still being his usual stalker self and is somewhere close.

"Aw, isn't that sweet! You're sacrificing yourself for your friends. By the way my names Matt."

Mack raised an eyebrow at the vampire she now knows as Matt. "Who says I'm sacrificing myself? Also, why the hell do I care what your name is vampy." She might be scared as hell but she sure wasn't going to show it.

Matt shrugged his shoulders. “Just thought you would want to know who is going to be killing you." He said lunging himself at her. Mack was surprised, but luckily she was also fast. Twisting to the side she sent a fast and hard kick to the vampires ribs. 

"Oh, short stack has some fight." Matt said as he turned back to face her. “You don't know the half of it blood sucker.” Mack replied smartly. 

He decided to stop playing and before she knew it he was in front of her. He delivered a kick of his own that sent her to the ground. She felt like she had just gotten kicked by a damn mule. But she didn't stay down long. She sucked in the pain, jumped up and ran at Matt like she was going to tackle him. At the last moment she jumped up and sent a kick to his face, flipped and landed on her feet. 

Not stopping, she twisted around and kicked out at his knee. Unfortunately for her, the vampire grabbed her ankle and threw her. She hit a tree and she felt something snap in her left arm. Which made her cry out in pain. 

"Did I hurt you little girl?" Matt asked in teasing voice. 

Mack heard him approaching her. She used her right hand to push herself up into a sitting position. Every movement hurt like hell, but she figured she was screwed big time, so she was going to face him to the end. Damned if she was going to give him the satisfaction of trying to run away or plead for her life. 

"Aw, what's wrong no last words. Here I thought you would have a lot to say in your last minutes." Matt said as he looked down at Mack.

Mack glared up at the vampire in defiance. "Sure I got some last words for you Matt. Go F-”  
She never got to finish as Matt reached out and grabbed her by her throat and lifted her up. 

"Now, now no need to get nasty just because you lost." Then with a smirk, he took his other hand and squeezed her broken arm. Mack couldn't help but scream the sound seemed to echo around the deserted area. 

All of a sudden Matt's head snapped to the side as he released her arm. 

"Well hell. Looks like the cavalry is here." Matt said. 

Then Mack heard the sound of running feet and thanked every God she could think of. “Til next time we meet short stack." Matt said quietly. 

Next thing she knew, she was thrown but fortunately what she hit this time wasn't a tree. 

The scene Aiden came upon made him catch his breath. The vampire has Mack by the throat and is making her scream somehow. As he got closer, the screaming stopped and the guy turn toward him. What Aiden wasn't expecting was for the vampire to throw Mack at him, then send him a salute and take off. Not having time to think Aiden caught Mack, the impact almost sent them both to the ground. At a whimper he loosened his grip and looked down at Mack. He breathed a sigh of relief to see she was still awake. 

"You know, you keep getting in trouble like this, I'm going to think you need someone to watch over you to." Aiden said with a small grin.

"Um...is that your way of telling me you want the job old man." Mack replied in a strained whisper. 

"Nah, but I know a Dhampir that would want the job. Actually he would probably fight me for it, if I did want it." Aiden said softly. 

Mack just smiled tiredly. “Thanks for coming for me." She never heard his reply or when the rest of the cavalry arrived. 

Once we got Mack to the hospital and checked in, the wrath of God came down on our heads in the form of Baran, Laura and Mama. They ran into the hospital and zeroed in right where we were sitting. Mama walked over to me and just glared. “Words can't express how mad I am right now, or how dead you are.” 

I looked up at her and smiled a little. “I am sorry?” 

I don't really remember anything after that, other than being dropped off at the dorm with my ears ringing. 

Baran sat in the corner chair, hands folded with his chin resting on his fingers. He stared off into space and replayed the night’s events in his mind. 

He wondered how this had happened. The island was supposed to be secured, but twice now students had been attacked. It made him so angry to think that these kids were so vulnerable. 

A moan brought Baran to his feet and to the bed that Mack was in. He watched as she started waking up. Her eyes fluttered, then all of a sudden she gasped and tried to sit up. Baran put his hands on her shoulders to keep her settled. 

"Hey, Mack you're ok, you're safe." Baran told her.

He watched as she looked toward him, blinking and trying to focus on him. She tried to say something, but her mouth and throat were so dry she just coughed. 

Baran poured some water into the cup and held the straw still while Mack took a drink. 

He spoke softly "You're in the hospital. It's just me here with you because we made everyone else leave after they knew you were going to be ok." 

"Are the girls, ok?" Mack asked in a raspy voice 

Baran just shook his head and gave a little smile. "Yea, Sassy they are all fine. Just worried about their friend." Baran watched as Mack relaxed "You know right now I don't know whether to call you brave or stupid. I'm starting to lean toward stupid. But, I'm waiting to hear about what happened to make you do what you did. Why would you take on a vampire on your own?" 

Mack closed her eyes and took a deep breath, which turned into a groan. She brought her right arm around her ribs. 

Baran got up and moved her hand gently "Easy, You have massive bruising along your back and ribs and throat. Your left arm is broke below the elbow. The doctors were surprised it was the only thing broke. " 

Mack just sighed again and tried to get as comfortable as she could. She knew she was in for an ass chewing once she was better by quite a few people. She turned her head slightly when she heard a scraping on the floor. Baran had pulled the chair from the corner closer to the bed. "I want you to tell me what happened Mack. What in the world were you thinking staying behind like that." The older Dhampir asked.

"I was thinking I needed to protect my friends. I'm the oldest and right now better fighter than them so, I made the choice to send them for help while I distracted the vampire. Yes, I know I never stood a chance in the fight but I wasn't thinking of it as a show down. I was just holding him off till they got away and brought help. We were in town I figured they would find help fast." Mack told him coughing a little at the end. Baran leaned over to the little stand where the cup of water was and held it up to Mack for another drink.

"You could have run with them and protected them." He said like it was the most logical thing to have done. 

Mack shook her head. "He wanted us all to run. I could tell, he wanted to pick us off one by one that's the feeling I got. So, I gave him something he wasn't expecting a fight. It worked he was so focused on taunting me and playing with me that the others were able to get help." 

"So, another words you got lucky that the vampire wanted to play with his food this time." Baran said with a frown.

"Guess so. Even though it doesn't feel like it right now." She gave a little grin at her favorite teacher, though she wouldn't tell him that. 

"Next time do me a favor and run with the others.”

"I'm not going to make promises I can't keep Sir. Though I will promise to do what I can to avoid a situation like that again.” 

"Well guess that means I'm just going to have to kick up the training huh? Can't have you all unprepared." Baran said with his usual smirk.

Mack saw that look and just closed her eyes and groaned. "I don't even want to know what you are planning for us." 

"Well you can rest easy right now because all I have planned is going to find your doctor. Also to call and let everyone know that you are awake and doing ok." Baran said as he got up and walked to the door but before he went out it. 

He turned back to her. "I've finally decided what I'm going to call you. Stupidly brave." 

"Thanks Sir." Mack replied.

"I never said it was a compliment" Baran huffed out as he left the room. 

Mack let out a little laugh and then moaned as pain shot through her body. Note to self, life is going to suck for a while.


	17. Chapter 17

“Well, I just don't understand how she threw herself in front of the bus like that. I mean, if we had all stuck together I am sure we would have taken him. Boy this is taking a long time, do you think we will get to see her soon? I need to call Damien and tell him-OW!” 

I lifted my head up from my Mama’s shoulder and looked over at Mari who was rubbing her arm and glaring at Paige. “Why did you hit me?” She demanded. 

“Because it was either that or shoot you, shut the hell up already, you're making me nervous.” 

“I am sorry, I babble when I am nervous.” 

“Well babble to someone else. Or the hospital is going to get another patient.” 

She glared at Paige for another minute and then stood up. “I'm going to the soda machine. Does anyone want anything?” 

I shook my head and sighed. “I want Baran to come out, I want to see her.” 

Mama gave my shoulder a squeeze. “He will be out soon babe, just be patient.” 

Yeah, so patient. One of my best friends was lying in a hospital bed, bruised and broken, and I was sitting out in the waiting room like I didn't have a care in the world. Life was so unfair. I sighed again and got to my feet. I looked at Mama and smiled, “I'm going to machines too, holler if something happens.” 

She nodded and I started down the hall. As I turned the corner to the small enclave, I almost ran right into Damien. I frowned and took a step back since he appeared to be on his cell phone. This was odd, because Mari had just been saying she wanted to text him and let him know about Mack. I pressed myself against the corner as I waited for him to finish. 

“Sorry, well this is not my fault. No, no it’s not. If you had not let your idiot loose. How is that MY fault? Fine, look I am sorry but I don't need help. I have it handled. If I need help I will call. Fine, fine. But he stays on his side. Yes, good-bye!” 

He tapped the phone irritably and shoved it back in his pocket. He looked around for a second (I ducked back around the wall) and then stomped off. I pulled out my own phone, I wanted to text Mari and find out if she knew Damien was here when it pinged with a message from Mama. “Baran is back.” 

I turned and ran back down the hall to where a group had gathered around Baran. He cleared his throat and sighed. “Well, she is alive and she is going to be ok. She has massive bruising along her back, ribs, and throat. Her left arm is broke below the elbow. The doctors were surprised it was the only thing broke. She is going to be here for a week or so and then when she does go home, she needs care for about another week or so. And then she will be back to school.” He rubbed his face and sighed. “And she can't sleep at the dorms, so we will have to find a place for her to be.” 

Mama waved her hand. “We will figure all of that out later. Can Amaia go and see her?” 

Baran shook his head. “She's sleeping right now, but maybe in the morning.” 

Oh Hell no. Without a word to anyone, I ran out past Baran and down the hall. I heard shouts behind me but by the time I found the door that had Mack’s name written on the outside, they were at least 3 feet behind me. I opened the door slowly and moved around the curtain to where she was laying. She looked so small and white. Which was weird for Mack because she was always so up and ready to do something, go somewhere. I kept my eyes on her still form as I sat down in the chair next to the bed. She would probably kick my ass for hanging over her still body like some rip off Heathcliff roaming the Moors. I think I had heard that somewhere. I settled back in the chair and drew my legs up, to rest my chin on my knees. That is the last thing I remember. 

I woke up to this weird humming, it was like a hiss of air, and then this whistle. I opened my eyes and tried to figure out the noise. It kept going even after I had sat up and stretched a little. I was stiff and little sore from the chair, but otherwise ok. I looked over at Mack, she was still sleeping, but some color was back in her face which was good. But the noise wasn't coming from her. I looked across the bed and saw Aiden. He had his head back against the other chair, his legs drawn up as mine had been and he was snoring. I had never seen Aiden sleep before, it was an amazing thing to know that he snored like normal people. I got up from the chair and walked on numb legs over to his side. I put my hand on his shoulder and shook him. “Aiden!” He jumped about a foot and tried to swing out at me. I jumped back, almost falling into the curtain. “Aiden! What the hell man!” 

He blinked his green eyes at me and rubbed his face. “Shit, I thought you were…never mind what I thought.” He sighed softly, stood up and looked over to make sure Mack didn't wake up. Thankfully, she was still sleeping. He sighed again and shook his head. “Let’s go get something to eat. Your mom brought a bag for you, and left me to babysit.” 

“Of course she did.” I said fondly. “And yes, I would love to go get something to eat.” 

We quietly walked out of the room and shut the door. Then walked down the hall to the cafeteria. The main service station was closed, but it has some nice stuff in the cold case. We got some sandwiches and sat down at a table. He dug into his sandwich, but I just picked at mine. He rolled his eyes a little. “What’s on your mind?” 

I shrugged my shoulders and he hummed softly. “Ok, let’s pretend I've asked you that question 10 times and I'm very annoyed. 

I huffed out a breath and looked up at him. “I'm sorry. I'm sorry for ditching you, I'm sorry for being mean to you and I'm sorry for everything.” 

He blinked his eyes at me and pressed his hand against his heart. “My God, I think I'm having a heart attack. This is…I don't know how to process this.” 

I pursed my lips a little and narrowed my eyes at him. “Really? REALLY? I apologize and you act like it’s the single most shocking event in your whole life?” 

“Actually, the single most shocking event of my life was when Disco came out, but this is a pretty close second.” 

I shook my head a little. “Well I'm so glad I could add some entertainment to your otherwise dull life.” 

He smiled at me, almost sweetly. “Trust me, since you and I have met, there has never been a dull moment.” 

I had no reply for that so I just bit into my sandwich. We ate in silence for a bit before I put my half eaten sandwich down. “Something is going on, I am getting creepy vibes.” 

Aiden sighed and set his own sandwich down. “Agreed.” 

“Why?” 

“That I am not sure of. But I have a feeling that something is coming. And Paige seems to support the theory.” 

“Why do you say that?” 

I frowned when I heard Paige’s voice. “Because I always have a theory silly!” 

I looked under the table. “Uh Aiden, your pocket is talking.” 

I sat back up as he pulled his cellphone out of his pocket. Paige’s face filled the screen and she smiled at me. “Hey Mai!” 

“Hey Paige, how is it going?” 

“Quiet. You guys need to come back.” 

She turned away from the camera and tapped her keyboard. 

“What did you find Paige?” Aiden asked. 

“Well, that would be the question. I didn’t.” 

Aiden frowned and turned the phone around. “Wait what?” 

 

“Well, I mean I didn’t find anything pertinent. But, I did find something interesting though, what you would call a finger print on the server.” 

I grabbed the phone. “Fingerprint?” 

“Hmmm hmmm. Someone has managed to temporarily out hack me and took control of the server. Which shut down the warning systems for about 40 seconds.” 

“How did they come back up?” Aiden asked. 

“The backup servers kicked on. And whoever was messing with it wiped their feet on the way out. But they didn’t clean everything.” 

“So where does the fingerprint lead to.” 

“See this is where it gets tricky, it was bounced around a couple of times which led me to some place called Bangor Maine.” 

“So whoever accessed it, did it remotely?” 

“That I don’t know. They could have just as easily done it from the other side of the river.” 

“Keep digging Hacker.” 

“On it.” 

He clicked off the phone and I rubbed my face, not really wanting to ask what was going on, I opted to say. “I wish Mack wasn't hurt.” 

He nodded and patted my hand gently. “I wish that too. But sorry to tell you, this is not a YA novel where everything is wrapped up by the last chapter and the girl gets her guy. This is real life.” 

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, if this were a YA novel, you would have been the villain of the piece.” 

He smirked. “Nah, I think you would have turned out to the villain, no one suspects the innocent girl.” 

“Why Aiden, as I live and breathe, did you just pay me a compliment?” 

He rolled his eyes. “Good god, I called you innocent, that is not a compliment.” 

I smiled at him and took another bite of my sandwich. “So any plans made for Mack?” 

 

Aiden nodded and crumbled his empty container. “She is going to go stay with Laura once she gets out of the hospital. They have her on a strict blood diet. And everyone is going to take turns being with her at the hospital. You and I are going to take tonight, maybe tomorrow. But you have to go back to school on Monday, your mom’s orders.” 

I blew out a breath. “I am guessing you're not bound by such rules?” 

He smiled, a slow cool smile. “One of the lucky few that is not a student you know.” 

I sighed and stood up. “Are you finished? Or do you need your own blood diet?” 

He chuckled and walked around and took my hand and moved it up to his mouth. “Whoa! What are you doing?” I yanked my hand away and backed away. 

He smiled bigger and took a step toward me. I yelped and turned to run for it. He grabbed me around the waist and brought his mouth to my neck. 

He dropped a quick kiss there and then lifted his head chuckling. “Please, I'm not going to attack some kid.” 

 

I huffed out a breath. “Kid, I'm not a kid. I'm a young woman.” 

He shook his head. “Come on then young woman, let’s go check on Mack.” 

We walked out into the hall and walked down toward Mack’s room. “Did Mari go home too?” 

He nodded. “Yup, she got picked up by Damien.” 

I frowned a little. “She did? But he was here at the hospital, I saw him.” 

He stopped walking and looked at me. “Are you sure?” 

I nodded. “Yeah, he was over by the soda machine talking on his cell phone.” 

He frowned a little and looked like he was going to say something, but Mack screaming cut him off. “Apparently Sleeping Beauty is awake.”

We ran to her room and I pushed the door opened. As I did, I heard a dull thud of something hitting the wall. “Over my dead body will I use that! You think that thing is good enough to pee in, YOU do it!” 

As we walked around the curtain, Mack smiled, relief spreading across her face. “Thank God! Old Man, give me a ride to the bathroom please, or Nurse Ratchet over there is going to make me use that…THING!” She pointed to the nurse who was holding the bed pan she had just picked up off the floor.” 

The Nurse frowned at her. “Mackenzie, you are supposed to stay in bed. I think it would be better if-”

“And as I told you, if you think that thing is good enough to pee in, you pee in it.” She held out her arms to Aiden. He walked over to her and very gently lifted her up. I walked over, fluttering my hands. “Is there anything I can do to help?” 

Mack rolled her eyes. “Yes, get out of the way before I pee on you.” 

I moved aside as Aiden carried her to the bathroom that adjoined the small room. The nurse huffed out a breath. “I swear, she is the crankiest patient I have ever met.” She stomped by me and went out the door, carrying the bed pan. 

I sat down in the chair I had occupied earlier and waited for Mack and Aiden to come out. I could hear his deep voice, followed by her low voice. They came out a few minutes later, Mack had her good arm wrapped around his neck. “Oh Aiden, you are so big and strong, I declare, I wouldn't know what to do without you.” She had bumped up her accent and was batting her eyes. 

I laughed and shook my head. “Ok, Mack.” He walked over to the bed and laid her down gently. I jumped up and pulled the blanket over her. She glared at us and tried to bat my hands away, but she couldn't really do it one handed. “I am fine. God. It’s just a broken arm. I am fine.” 

I sat down in my chair again. “No you're not fine. You have a broken body. You took on a Vampire and lived to tell the tale. I think you are very much not fine.” 

She rolled her eyes at me. “Oh please, the guy could barely hit.” 

Aiden snorted. “He hit you pretty good.” 

She opened her mouth, I am sure to argue some more but shut it when the curtain moved. “Hello Mackenzie, my name is Jenni, I am the Nurse’s Aide for this floor. I brought your dinner.” She walked around Aiden and set the tray on the table and helped Mack sit up. “Now easy does it, we are not in a race. There we are.” Once she was sitting up, she pulled the tray cover off. “Now I have a nice steak for you here and some milk. And by Doctor’s orders, you are required to eat and drink every single thing.” 

She smiled at Mack and walked around the curtain. 

I raised my eyebrows a little. “Wow, I didn't know hospitals served steak.” 

Mack smiled and then frowned at her steak. Without even thinking about it I got up and cut the steak into bite sized pieces. I set back down in my chair after I was done.

 

Mack grinned her thanks as she picked up the fork to start eating. “It’s because I am special.” She took a huge bite of steak. 

Aiden leaned back in his chair. “Pish, special in the head maybe.” 

Mack gave Aiden a dark look. “Anyway, before I was so rudely interrupted. I was saying I'm special because I need extra protein/blood. To help my body kick start the healing process.” 

Aiden smirked a little and leaned forward to steal a piece of steak. “Again I say, special in the head.” 

Mack slapped his hand away from the plate and grabbed her fork. “You want a piece of me?” 

I grabbed her arm with one hand and pushed Aiden back into his chair with the other. “Ok, guys come on seriously, it is not cool to harass a sick patient.” 

Mack stuck her tongue out at Aiden and grinned smugly. “Yeah Aiden, you'll upset my delicate constitution.” 

Aiden shook his head. “Delicate constitution my ass.” 

His cell phone chiming ended their banter and he looked at the screen. “I gotta go take this. I shall return.” 

"You really shouldn't threaten people like that Vampy. They might get the wrong idea about you." Mack said as she took another bite of steak. I couldn't help but giggle. 

He sent Mack a glare as he stepped out of the room and I looked at Mack who was eating contently. “Ok, truth time. Do you mind me being here? Because if you would rather I wasn't, I can have Aiden take me home.” 

She stared at me while she chewed her steak and then shook her head. “If I had to have anyone hover over me, I would prefer it be the person that will not annoy me into an early grave.” 

“Thanks…I think.” 

She nodded her head at me and kept on eating her steak. I leaned back in the chair and checked my own phone. I had a missed call from Mama and a text from Elizabeth! I jumped forward in my seat which made Mack tense up and jerk back some. She closed her eyes and hissed out a quiet. "Shit." She then sent me a look. "What the hell, Mai?"

I looked up at her feeling guilty for making her jump like that. “I got a message from Elizabeth. I haven't heard from her in forever.” 

Mack waved her fork again. “Read it!” 

I tapped the screen and pulled the message up. “I heard about the vampire attack. PLEASE be careful! I would rather have you alive than dead. Also, I have heard whispers. Beware those close to you.” 

I frowned a little and slid my finger across the screen. “That is it? Oh, come on Elizabeth!” 

Mack chuckled and finished off her steak. “Well, I guess she wanted to get right to the point.”

I groaned softly. “That was not to the point that was…a half a point.” 

She chuckled again. “Well what did you expect? Her to show you the path of the Holy Grail?” 

“No, but I was hoping for something more than a cryptic message written in blood.” She shot me a dirty look. “Eh, so to speak.” 

She shook her head and sipped the milk. “I think you need to do what she said and stay safe and keep your eyes opened. You my friend, have had too many close calls. I feel like I need to tell Aiden to amp up the security.” 

“Oh my God.” I said not believing what I was hearing. Especially with it coming from Mack.

She gave me a pensive look. “I'm being serious. I got in the way of the guy, but he was going for you.” 

I felt a coldness wash over the top of me. “We don't know that.” I whispered. 

She gave me a long look. “I know it. Because when I got in his way and you ran, he actually looked after you like he wanted to just kill me and chase you.” 

“So why didn't he?” 

She shrugged. “Maybe because I interested him more at the time.” 

“You know, people automatically assume I am a goody-two-shoes just because I look all young and innocent. Just because I have a baby face doesn't mean I am not a total badass, too. Maybe you just looked good enough to eat.” 

Mack shrugged her shoulders and looked like she was going to say something else when Aiden walked back in. He had a strange look on his face. “So, tell me this, what could be worse than a Vampire?” 

Mack slurped down the rest of the milk and set down the empty carton. “Is this a riddle?” 

Aiden sat down and pocketed his phone. “Of sorts.” 

From the look on his face, I had a feeling this was not a riddle. “Well I give up, what is worse than a Vampire?” 

“Apparently a Dhampir that acts like a Vampire. I just got off the phone with my Sire, he says that the Vampire that attacked Mack is not a real Vampire. He is a Dhampir. 

Mack snorted in a ladylike fashion. “He sure as hell didn't feel like a Dhampir. I will admit to you two that he can hit pretty hard.” 

“And he had green eyes like a Vampire.” I said softly. 

Aiden shrugged. “Whether he has green eyes or purple eyes, my Sire says he is a Dhampir and he would know one Vampire from another.” 

I blew out a breath, trying to wrap Aiden’s words around my head. Mack broke the silence by sliding the plastic top onto her tray. 

“So what happens now?” 

Aiden shrugged. “At the moment, my Sire is going to call Baran and they are going to work something out. He might come out, but I doubt it. He hates to leave his little corner of the world.” 

Mack snorted. “Yeah, because Clarksville is so hip and happening.” 

Aiden gave her a dirty look. “Isn't there a nurse that is supposed to be pumping you full of sleeping pills or something? Perhaps we should ring her.” 

She smiled brightly at him and then pressed the button by her bed. “Since you two obviously want to be alone, I will indulge you.” 

Aiden opened his mouth to snap back, but the Nurse that Mack had battled earlier walked in. “Ok are you ready for some more sleep?” I noticed she approached the bed cautiously, like Mack was suddenly going to leap out of bed and start dancing on her head. 

Mack just nodded. “The pain is starting to get a little much and the company is boring me.” 

The nurse shook her head and looked at the two of us. “Why don't you two take a little walk while I help Miss Mackenzie get settled for the night. Come back in about 10 minutes.” 

Aiden got up and walked around the bed to take my hand. “Sounds good, come on.” 

I looked over at Mack who the nurse was settling back. She nodded at me and I let myself be led out of the room. Aiden shook his head as he shut the door. 

“They are not putting her down. They just need to do some stuff to get her settled. You want to call your mom?” 

I stopped walking and leaned back against the wall. “She might want to hear my sweet little voice.” 

I pulled out my phone and tapped the screen. After a few short rings, she answered. “Hey Mama.” 

I could hear the relief even through the phone lines. “Hey baby! How are you? How is Mack? Is Aiden with you? Are you still at the hospital?” 

“Mama, please calm down. It’s ok. I'm fine. Mack is fine, the nurse is in there now helping her lie down to get some sleep. Aiden is with me, we are still at the hospital, and we are probably going to spend the night.” 

“Well I am just worried about you. I mean with everything that is going on-”

I frowned a little and looked at the phone. Something was up, Mama was acting weird. “Uh Mama, do you have someone there with you?” 

“What makes you say that?” 

“Um, the fact that you are talking like a character in a Soap Opera. Even the pitch of your voice is different.” 

“Well, what a thing to say. Of course everything is fine.” I heard the sound of the door closing and her voice dropped. “Ok, here is the situation.” Great, now she sounded like she was in a spy movie, and a bad one at that. “I am on lock down here. Baran is staying over with me.” 

“Well that is just great. Baran, my new daddy.” 

“Bite your tongue little girl, that man scares the living shit out of me. No, he is here because of that Vampire attack. They are thinking you were the actual target!” 

I looked over at Aiden who was leaning against the other wall. I was sure because of his Vampire hearing, he had heard my Mama. Which suddenly made him very interested in his shoes. I clenched my teeth together, vowing to make sure the hospital room they put him in when I was done would be a nice one. “Gee, I wonder where that idea came from.” 

“No clue! But he is over here just for tonight, until they can figure out what to do.” 

“I hope they don't plan on putting us out to sea with only a little bit of food and our wits.” 

“Um, I don't think it is that serious as of yet. But stay with Aiden ok? Don't wander away as you tend to do.” 

“Trust me, I will be right by Aiden’s side. Stuck like glue.” 

“Thanks for that baby. Now I am going to hang up, I love you.” 

“I love you too.” I tapped the phone off and looked at Aiden. “You are such an asshole.” 

He looked at me, his green eyes huge and innocent. “Me? What did I do?” 

“You told Baran I was the actual target and now he is over there guarding my Mama.” 

“Well, there is nothing wrong with a little upgrade when it comes to protection.” 

I sucked in a breath ready to blast him, but instead just smiled sweetly and said. “I hate you.” Then I turned heel and started back down the hall. 

He laughed and caught up to me. “You hate me? I thought just a little while ago you were so sorry for everything!” 

“I don't know what I was thinking. I must have hit my head or something, temporary brain damage. Must have been the air in the hospital. They must pump in chemicals to cause brain malfunction.” 

Aiden said nothing, just grinned at me as we walked back to Mack’s room. I wanted to punch him in his smug face, but figured it was easier just to ignore him like the moron he obviously was. “You do realize that if the attack was targeted at me, you just drew a HUGE amount of attention to my Mama by sending Baran over there.” 

Aiden smiled at me, the smile that said: You are such a kid. 

“But, who better to protect her than Baran?” 

Since I didn't really have an answer for that, I just pushed Mack’s door opened and ‘accidentally’ let it shut in his face. The nurse looked up as I walked around the corner. Mack had an oxygen mask on and her eyes were almost closed. I walked around the bed and whispered. “What’s with the mask?” 

The nurse smiled and pulled the covers up and patted them gently, Mack was still coherent enough to push at her hands with her good hand which made the nurse laugh. “She has trouble breathing due to her ribs when she lays on her back, this is just a precaution. We don't want her to stop breathing on us.” 

“I see, well I will be here with her so if something happens I can ring.” 

“Sounds good, I have the extra bed all prepared for you and your friend.” 

I groaned softly. “He is a Vampire, I bet he would be more comfortable sleeping upside down.” 

She smiled at me. “Sadly, we don't have that type of sleeping accommodation.” 

“I looked down at the floor. “How clean is this?” 

“Not very.” 

“I am sold on it.” 

She shook her head. “There is more than enough room for you two. And, I cleared it with your mother.” 

I jerked my head up and looked at the very sweet nurse. “You asked my MOTHER if I could sleep in the same bed as a boy!” 

She patted my cheek. “You are child dear. Of course I did. I asked her before she left. I didn't want you sleeping in the chair all night. She said it was fine.” 

Well, this night was just getting better and better, I half expected, with the amount of fun going on, that the plague was going to break out any minute. 

I didn't say anything, I just grabbed the bag next to my chair and went into the tiny bathroom to change. Someone had packed me a pair of yoga pants and a Cami top. Well, at least it wasn't some negligee. I slid my feet into the complimentary slippers and walked out of the bathroom. Aiden was already laying on bed wearing sweats and tank top. He had his arm behind his head and was staring up at the ceiling. I set my bag in the chair and walked over. “This was not my idea.”

He moved his eyes down to me. “Like this was my brilliant plan. I am less than thrilled with this myself. I bet you hog the covers.” 

I rolled my eyes and climbed into the hospital bed. “Well you snore.” 

Aiden growled softly and hit the light above the bed. “Shut up and go to sleep.” 

After a moment of silence, I said. “I bet your feet get cold during the night.” 

“Amaia…” 

“I'll be quiet.” 

 

I woke up in the middle of the night. I often do when I am in a new environment. Usually, I would just roll over and go back to sleep. However, I couldn't because of the fact that Aiden had his arm draped around my waist and was holding my close to his side. He was sleeping, since I could hear the snores coming from him. This was an unexpected twist. I was cuddled up against Aiden and I didn't feel like jerking away or screaming. In fact, I wanted to move closer. What was wrong with me? Was Mack right? Was I actually crushing on my annoying babysitter? Ok, he wasn't really my babysitter, he was just a stalker. But wasn't that a syndrome? Stockholm or something? 

“You're thinking too loud,” Aiden muttered into my hair. “Stop it.”

I rolled my eyes even though he couldn't see me. “How can you even tell? It’s kind of a silent activity.”

“Because, like, you know how gears squeak? Well, your gears squeak.” Aiden shimmied up the bed and sits halfway up, supporting himself with one elbow. “You breathe in a certain way, like you're afraid you're going to run out of air if you don't take it all in fast enough.”

I turned over to face him. He looked sleepy and rumpled, hair curling up around the edges of his forehead. “That is possibly one of the most absurd things I've ever heard in my entire life. You're just fixated on me. Admit it.”

Aiden just grunted and flopped back onto the bed. “Go to sleep Amaia.” 

“Jerk.” I muttered as I laid back down. 

 

Matt panted softly as he ran into a wooded area and leaned against a tree. He was sure that he had lost the group of hunters, but it had been a close call. In fact, this whole night had been a close call. Who could have known that the cute little Dhampir would show guts and get in his way, interesting twist of fate so to speak.

He had to laugh to himself. One thing for sure, this mission was not going to be the simple, boring routine job he was expecting. 

It might actually turn out to be fun.


	18. Chapter 18

Mack jerked awake from a sound sleep with hands touching her. 

She hated being touched, let alone being touched where her body was screaming in pain. So whoever was digging their fingers into her sides was going to get it. 

She cracked opened an eye to see the horrible Nurse Ratchet standing over her. Ok, yes her name was not really Nurse Ratchet but the woman was evil enough to be her. 

Mack reached her hand out and pulled off her mask. “Stop pressing your hands into my sides, it hurts!” 

Nurse Ratchet (whose nametag said Celine Powers) rolled her eyes. “I am not pressing against your sides, I am trying to shift you so you will be more comfortable.” 

“I was more comfortable before you started moving me around.” 

Celine sighed softly. “I swear Mackenzie, you are the patient that makes me wonder why I got into nursing in the first place.” 

“You’re a sadist.” 

Celine smirked. “You know they took that lovely term off of the books ages ago. There, now you are all adjusted. And we didn’t wake your friends up.” 

Mack frowned. “My friends?” 

“Yes, the girl and guy that were here earlier are spending the night.” 

“Ummm, where are they?” 

Celine pulled back the curtain separating the beds and Mack had to let out a hoot of laughter. “Oh god, I need my phone. Get me my phone!” 

Celine looked a little put out. “Well I am not-”

Mack shook her head and pushed back the blankets. “If you are not going to help me, I will do it myself.” 

Celine blew out a breath, walked over to the plastic bag of Mack’s things and fished out her phone. “For the record Mackenzie, I am not your servant. The polite thing would be to ask for something.” Celine grumbled as she handed Mack her phone and then turned on her heel and left.

 

  
Mack ignored her and tapped the Camera app on her phone and snapped of a picture of the cuddling couple. After she had a decent one, she tapped the screen and sent the picture to Sammy. 

It only took a few seconds for her phone to chime with a message from Sammy. “LMAO! OMG I am posting that on FB right now!” 

Mack laughed and texted back. “You should caption it: Love’s Sweet Embrace, the TRUE Venus and Adonis.” 

The reply she got back made her smile more. “Why Mackenzie, who knew you were a Shakespeare Aficionado.”

“Don’t celebrate too hard Sammy Boy, I am an aficionado in Cliffs Notes.” She let out a yawn waiting on a reply. She hated being so tired she felt all she did was sleep lately. Hearing a chime she looked down at her phone. 

"Hey lest you cared enough to read those. LOL. I will see you later on today. Anything you want me to bring Mack my girl? 

She can't help but grin at the ‘my girl thing’. Ever since the Halloween dance their relationship has been moving right along. She guesses some would say they are dating but she didn't want to jump to any conclusions she was waiting on Sammy Boy to make it official. 

"I wouldn't mind some chocolate and puzzle books. Day time TV sucks big time so I get bored as hell." She sent back. Wasn't but a couple of seconds when a chime came.

"Chocolate and puzzle books. Got it. See you later sweetheart. G2G." Sammy replied.

She had a smile on her face as she clicked off the phone and settled back down, (by herself thank you), and fell into a deep sleep.

 

Late into the night, while Mack, Aiden and Amaia slept; Baran sat with Grace. They had been talking all through the night and into the early morning. He had blinked his eyes at her a few times but in the end of the conversation they had, he said. “I promise you Grace.” 

Grace got up to head to bed finally. "Thank you Baran. You have eased my mind immensely." With that said she went to her room to sleep. Baran was getting ready to catch what sleep he could when his phone rang. He hurriedly answered it so it wouldn't disturb Grace. "Hello." 

"Baran" Kendra greeted then went straight to business. "There is a council meeting this afternoon around two o'clock. You have to be there, we can send someone to set with Miss Grace till you get back." 

"Ok, I'll be there. Anything I need to bring or need to know?" He asked.

"No, not as of right now. If anything changes you know you'll be the first one I call." Kendra said. 

"I'll see you at two then." He said.

"Bye, Baran" Kendra said in parting.

Baran sighed as he rubbed his hand along his face. Then he laid back on the couch and hoped he could get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. Lucky for him it seemed someone upstairs was listening. He wasn't disturbed and slept till his replacement showed up at one o'clock.

 

I spent the whole weekend with Mack (except for the time Sammy came and kicked us out so he could visit with her), which I thought was cute. I thought at some point I would get on her nerves and she would ask me to leave her be. But she seemed to enjoy my company, and Aiden’s. Sometimes more of Aiden’s company than mine. But that probably had to do with the fact that he could lift her up to go to the bathroom and back. I was strong, but that was a bit beyond me. 

I was sad to have to go back to the dorm on Sunday. I tried to convince Mama that Mack needed me awhile longer, but apparently things had already been arranged and set in motion so nothing I said changed her mind. She was pretty firm and even my teenage whining didn't help. 

“No, you need to go to school. She will be fine. She's moving into Laura’s on Thursday. You will see her next weekend.” 

“But Mama-”

“No Amaia, you need to go to school. And get back to your routine.” 

There was no budging the woman. So I gave Mack a hug and had Aiden drive me back to the dorm. I sighed softly as we pulled away from the hospital and stared out the window. Aiden blew out a disgusted breath. 

“Ok come on Amaia, it's not like she's going off to war. She is in the hospital where she is going to get better. And then she is going to Laura’s. Before you know it, she will be back at school annoying all of us.” 

I sighed softly and looked over at him. “You're right.” 

He rolled his eyes. “I know I'm right.” He jerked the car suddenly to the right and I yelped as I hit the door. “What the hell?” 

 

He pulled into the Applebee’s parking lot and grinned at me. “Let’s get something to eat before we run back to the dorms.” 

“I'm not hungry.” 

Aiden looked at me, his green eyes darkening to the point of emeralds. “That is a damn lie because you have hardly eaten anything since Friday.”

I just rolled my eyes. “Fine I will have some mozzarella sticks.” 

He shot me a dirty look and pulled the door opened. “You are going to have more than that, you need some blood in you.” He looked at the hostess and smiled. “Two please.” 

We were walked over to a booth and sat down. The hostess handed us some menus and walked off. I opened the menu and flipped through the choices. “You are getting steak, you're looking a little wain.” 

“Wain?” I looked up at him over my menu. “Wain? Where do you get these words?” 

He raised an eyebrow at me. “From books. Maybe you've heard of them? You can find them almost anywhere” 

“I have thanks, I just don't spend all my time with my nose buried in a dictionary.”

He flashed a smile at me. “Which cannot be over stated.” 

“You are so annoying.” 

“You keep saying that, yet you are out on a date with me.” 

“Wait, what?” 

“You heard me. A date.” 

“Whoa, whoa, this is not a date!” 

He got that look on his face again, the same one that said you are such a kid. 

“Fact, you are sitting in a restaurant with me, having a meal. And we are having what could loosely be called a conversation. I believe that spells date.” 

He had me there. Well not really. “No you brought me here because I was hungry. That is something a friend does.” 

“Only if you don't feel like kissing the girl in front of you.” 

I blinked my eyes stunned because that came out of left field to me. “Uh you want to kiss me?” 

He leaned back in his chair. “God knows why. You annoy the hell out of me, half the time I don't know whether to kiss you or spank you.” 

“Well I…don't know what to say to that. Well, yes I do. You know I'm 15 right?” 

He smirked. “I am quite aware you are 15 which is why this is a cordial date where there will be no kissing. It’s just two people, who find each other attractive, having a meal.” 

“I don't find you attractive.” 

“Now you are just lying to my face.” 

I sighed heavily. Thank God the waitress finally came over. "Hello, I'm Amber and I will be your waitress. Are you ready to order or do you need more time?" Before I could say anything, Aiden spoke first. 

“The lady will have a steak, rare with fries and sweet tea to drink. I will have the same but with a Coke to drink.” The waitress wrote it all down then asked. "Would either of you like a salad as a starter? 

Aiden looked at me and I shook my head no. "No, thank you" 

"Ok, I will right back with your drinks and a basket of complementary rolls." She said as she collected the menus and left. 

“Well that was rude.” I said as I frowned at him. 

“No, it was the gentlemanly thing to do. I ordered for the lady.” 

“You have watched too many romance movies I think. Plus I said I wasn't that hungry so, why waste money on food I might not eat. ” 

He just snickered when our drinks and rolls showed up. I took a long sip of my tea and then set the glass down. “Ok, tell me something.” I said as I got a roll and started pull it apart to put the honey butter on it.

 

His eyebrow raised a little, but he leaned back in his chair and held out his hand in a go ahead gesture. 

“You said this is a date, but you have never made any indication that you were interested in me. You have not set this up! If this was a book, the reader would not be pleased. It would feel like the author just threw it in there because it's what they thought they needed to. ” 

“Please, I have set it up so much you could have seen it from space. The train, the ice cream shop, sneaking out. It’s always been there. Not my fault you have chosen to ignore it.” 

I opened and closed my mouth, I wasn't really able to think of anything to say to that. 

Well, that was a lie, I could think of something to say. 

“All of that stuff could have been put down to you doing your duty for the school and being a babysitter of all of us. Yes, we all call you my stalker but it's a joke. We all just figured you got stuck watching us. Also for future reference you're a jerk." I finished saying with a mild glare as our food arrived. 

He smiled at me as our food arrived. “I know Amaia.” 

 

After we had what could loosely be called a date, he drove me back to the dorm. It felt like 100 years since I had been away from it. It looked the same, but it was different at the same time. 

“You are seeing it through older eyes.” Aiden said to my unasked question. 

“Thank you Dr. Phil.”

“What? Its common knowledge that after a traumatic event, you always look at things with older eyes.” 

“Whatever. I'm getting out of the car now. Unless you want to kiss me.” 

“Out Amaia.” 

“Thank you for the lovely evening.” It wasn't even sarcastic and I didn't want to hear what he had to say, I just bolted out of the car and ran up the stairs. I actually kept running until I got to the second floor and then slowed to a walk. I had never been on a date before so I had nothing to compare it to but I thought it went pretty good for a first date.

“But it was with Aiden! EW!” Although, he wasn't that much of an ew, he was pretty cute. No, no! I was not thinking of Aiden like that. I was going to go to bed and go to sleep. It was going to be a long day tomorrow for sure.

My phone chirped from my purse, which scared me and made me jump. I was shaking my head at myself as I opened my purse and tapped the screen. “Quit over analyzing and go to bed. I didn't kiss you, not an official date.” The text from Aiden said. 

“Liar! You are a liar sir!” I slammed my finger onto the screen shutting off the phone. I put it back in my purse and opened the door. All was quiet, but the door to the bedroom was opened a little bit with light streaming out of it. I walked over and pulled the door opened and peered in. 

Mari was sitting on Mack’s bed tapping on her cell phone. Paige was at the end of the room tapping on the keyboard. I put my stuff on my bed and looked over at Mari. “What are you doing here?” 

She looked up at me and raised her eyebrows. “Visiting.” 

“Yes but why are you on Mack’s bed? That is her bed? You can't just put your butt on it!” 

Paige turned around in her chair and frowned at me. “You are pretty protective of Mack’s bed. It’s just a bed. Besides, Mari has permission, Mack said it was fine. Well, as long as she didn't sleep naked on it or have sex either. She said if either of those things happened Mari was getting a beat down.” 

“Oh…sorry.” I said as I shot her a small smile. I knew I was being a little snappy lately but I just couldn't seem to help it. 

Mari shook her head and started tapping on her phone again, she mumbled under her breath about crazy people. Paige grinned and waved at me. “Come check this out.” 

I walked over to the computer and peered over her shoulder. Her standard blue background was dancing with letters and codes. “What is this?” 

“This my dear friend is called hacking. Something I am VERY good at.” 

“I can see that, but what are we looking at?”

“This is the island wide mainframe. All the data that goes through the tower is being laid out on my computer.” 

“I see.” I leaned closer. “Wait, what does ‘static int groups’ mean?” 

“Someone is trying hard to keep some secrets from the tower. But sadly, they can't keep them from me.” 

She tapped the keys a few more times and a stream of words danced across the screen. 

“I am in.” 

She tapped a few more keys and the words Export_Symbol appeared. 

“What does that-”

“Shhh! I am working.” 

I blew out a breath and picked up her phone tapping through the pictures. I ran across one and giggled. When Paige looked at me, I showed it to her. She smiled and nodded. 

I tapped the keys a few times and sent a picture to Mari. 

I waited a few seconds and grinned when Mari yelped. “I hate clowns!” 

I looked at Mari innocently and batted my eyes at her. “You do? Well that is news to me.” 

She shot me a dirty look and launched her phone at me. I ducked away from it where it harmlessly landed on the desk that Paige was working at. Paige picked it up and tapped the screen a few times which made Mari squawk in protest as she got up from Mack’s bed and tried to get to the desk. “Put that down!” 

Paige held it out of Mari’s reach and then passed the phone to me. “What is wrong Mari? Don't want us poking around in your phone?” 

“No because it is my phone and it belongs to me.” She grabbed at it from my hand where I too held it out of reach. Mari grabbed my hair and started to pull. I let out a yelp and kicked her in the shin, but she didn't let go of my hair. Paige stood up and pulled Mari backwards. “Whoa now, calm down! We were just teasing Mari. Amaia, give her back her phone.” 

I looked at Paige confused, but her dark eyes revealed nothing, she just nodded her head like I was an idiot. “Give it.” 

I gave the phone to Mari with a glare. I thought her reaction was too much for a little teasing about a damn phone. 

She took the phone back and glared at us. “I'm going to bed.” She stalked over to Mack’s bed and flopped down. I looked over at Paige and she shook her head. I pressed my lips together for a second and then said, “I'm going to put on my pajamas." Paige nodded back at me then went back to what she was doing. I walked over to the bed, pulled my dirty clothes out of my small backpack and tossed them into my hamper at the foot of the bed. I went to the walk-in closet and pulled a pair of my pajamas off of the shelf from my section. 

As I turned away from the closet, I caught Mari’s eye. I was going to let it drop, I really was because I figured everyone was still a little on edge, but dammit she pulled my hair. So I stopped in front of Mack's bed. "Little heads up Mari. Next time you pull my hair, I'm going to deck you. Also, learn to take a damn joke. Especially from friends." With that said, I went to the bathroom.

When I came out of the bathroom, I decided I wasn't tired enough for bed yet so I went back over to Paige who was still clacking away on her keyboard. I pulled the other desk chair over to her desk and sat down. The codes and encryption lines ran down the screen. She tapped the keyboard a few times and the word Access Passed flashed green. Pictures and documents danced across the screen. I leaned back staring as Paige grabbed the mouse and started clicking it without any rhyme or reason. She kept clicking and typing on the keyboard for a few seconds before there was a low hum and words in red came onto the screen that said ‘Security Breach”. 

I let out a yelp and waved my hands. “Turn it off! Shut it down!” 

Paige ignored me as she kept clicking and typing, ignoring the flashing words. I leaned forward to pull the cord out of the wall and shut down the computer, Paige pushed me back in my chair with one hand. “It’s fine! If I need help, I will ask!” 

I stared at the screen, mesmerized by those words as they flashed. I just imagined all the trouble I would get into and just when it seemed like it was never going to end, the humming stopped and the words stopped flashing. Paige fell back in her chair and rubbed her face, I let out the breath I had been holding. 

She looked over at me. “Give me your phone.” 

I must have looked confused or in shock, because she reached out and pushed my shoulder. “Amaia! Give me your phone.” 

I got up on what felt like spaghetti legs and stumbled over to my purse where my phone was. I pulled it out and handed it to Paige. She tapped the screen a few times and brought the phone up to her ear. 

“Hey it’s me. No, the thing totally breached! I know right. Well, I managed to get SOME stuff, not all of it. Yeah, she is right here. Ok, yeah.” She handed the phone off to me and I brought it up to my ear. 

“H-Hello?” 

“Amaia? You ok?” 

I blinked my eyes a little. “A-Aiden? Why are you talking to Paige?” 

“Something she and I are working on together. Listen, I need you to run down the student store and get a flash drive. It's still open and I will pay you back. Get a 22 GB one and hurry.” 

He clicked off before I could say anything. Paige took the phone out of my hand and pushed me again. At this rate I was going to have bruises. “Hurry! Go down to the store, get the flash drive and come back.” 

The fact that I was in my pajamas never crossed my mind. I just stumbled out of the room and out the door. Down the stairs I went, clutching my wallet like it was a weapon. When I got to the first floor, I ran down the hallway to the large sun room that had been converted into what could loosely be called a student store. I threw myself through the hanging beads and almost fell against the counter. The cashier leaped away from me, his dark eyes huge. I couldn't place him, and didn't have time to try. 

“I-I need a 22 GB flash drive please.” 

He blinked at me, but turned around to grab the plastic wrapped flash drive and placed it on the counter. “$15.35.” He said as he stared at me while I dug through my wallet for money. I must have looked a little more crazed than I thought, plus I was in night clothes. 

As I handed him my money, my head was clearing enough to wonder why Paige would need a new flash drive. She probably buys those things in bulk. Was she doing something illegal? Well obviously, because she was Paige. But why involve me? And Aiden was involved too. 

“Um, do you know anything about flash drives?” 

The cashier nodded his head a little hesitantly. “Some why? 

“Do you know if flash drives leave traces of signatures? Like if someone plugged in a flash drive, would it leave a trace in the system.” 

The cashier shrugged. “They say that USB Keys will linger in a system and attach themselves to files that have been messed with. There is a way to see that. But other than that, not that I know of. Why?” He asked as he handed back my change. 

“Just wondering.” I answered with a shrug of my own. “Thank you!” I kind of yelled as I grabbed the flash drive off the counter and ran out of the sunroom and down the hallway. A thousand questions were churning in my head and none were going to have a simple answer I was sure. 

I made my way back to the room and opened the door. Mari was lying on the couch, Mack’s comforter pulled over her and a disgruntled look on her face. I paused a little on my way to the door. “What’s wrong with you?” 

“Paige and Vampire boy are in there nattering over the computer. Which is bothering my sleep schedule.” 

“Uh, it’s like 8:00 at night.” 

“It’s been a hell of a week and I am trying to brace myself for a longer one which will be at school to boot.” With that said she turned facing the back of the couch as she pulled the cover over her head.

I didn't really have anything to say to that, so I just walked into the bedroom and shut the door behind me. Aiden and Paige were both leaned over Paige’s computer. Aiden was using some creative swears that I didn't realize were even still in use and Paige was writing something in a giant notebook. “Um, I got the flash drive.” 

I had never seen Aiden use his vampire speed, I am sure he kept it down to Dhampir speed to keep up with us and to not scare us. That flash drive was out of my hand like a magic trick though. One minute I was holding it out, the next minute it was gone and he and Paige were muttering in computer speak. 

“So what is going on?” 

Aiden turned and looked at me, he flashed his famous smile. “Nothing why?” 

So, he wanted to play that game. I smirked at him and walked over to them. I stopped and leaned on the desk as I folded my arms. "Ok, let's pretend I've asked you that question ten different times and ways. Now I'm getting very annoyed.”

I knew he remembered saying basically the same thing to me at the hospital, when he raised an eyebrow at me. I just continued to stare at him waiting on an answer, Aiden looked at Paige who had popped the flash drive into the USB port, then back at me. 

“Amaia, something is going on. I am not going to say what because this is one of those scenarios that the less you know the better. But Paige and I are going to figure it out. For now.” He took the flash drive that had been downloaded from Paige and handed it to me. “Keep this safe. No matter what happens, keep this safe.” 

I nodded my head and closed my fingers around it. “Is this one of those Lord of the Rings moments?” 

He rolled his eyes at me. "Rest assure the world doesn't depend on you. Just promise me you will keep it safe.” 

I sighed and nodded. “Fine I promise. I will keep it safe.” 

“Good.” 

And that was the end of the discussion. Aiden thanked Paige and said good night as he left. I put the flash drive away, and we went to bed. 

The next morning, instead of going to class, there was an announcement at breakfast that we all needed to go down to the meeting hall. 

I had a feeling I knew what was going to happen when we got down there and I wasn't far from wrong. 

Kendra was standing at the podium, gripping it like a lifeline as we filed in. Once we were all sitting, she moved around it. I could see Baran and a few other teachers sitting behind her, looking tense. 

 

“This past weekend, a student was injured by a Vampire. Though the student assumed the risk, the injury should not have happened. But it is not from lack of training, she was quite able to defend herself. It was from the fact that the Vampire itself was on our island. So, new rules have been put into place. For the next several months, the only classes you will attend is Vampire Defense Training and Vampire 101, and we have plans to extend both of them to Saturdays as well. Until Christmas break begins, students will eat, sleep and breathe Vampires. We will also be extending Christmas Break, normally we would come back in January, but we have extended it to the end of February. We are hopeful that the extended break will rejuvenate you and also allow you to be with your families to ensure more safety from older Dhampirs. We are also going to add additional security and enforce a stricter curfew. From now on, all Purples will be in their rooms by 8:00 pm, Blues 9:00 pm and Reds, by 10:00 pm. Also there will be no going into town day or night without adult supervision. We hope with these new measures that students will be safer and better able to protect themselves. For now, you are dismissed to your dorms.” 

We all stood up and started marching out of the building. Everyone was grumbling around me, some louder than others. My head was swimming with questions, not over the new rules, those were understandable. It was the fact that if the adults were scared, how bad was this situation for real? I felt a hand grab my arm and I looked up into a familiar pair of green eyes. He smiled at me and I tried to smile back but I just shuddered. 

 

The car that Elizabeth was driving was quiet. The only noise that could be heard was the clicking of the blinker as she turned to the left. She was surprised by how quiet Caroline was, just a few seconds before she had been peppering her mother with questions 

The car jostled and bumped over the pot holes and uneven ground of the dirt road. The silence was broken when Caroline spoke. “He lives away from everything doesn't he?” 

“Often they do, it's easier on them." 

Caroline said nothing as a house appeared. It was small, brown and looked run down. Elizabeth pulled the car in front of the house and parked it. “Well, let’s go.” 

Caroline bit her lip. “Are you sure about this Mother?” 

“Yes my dear, I am quite sure about it.” 

She opened the car door and walked up to the door. She rang the bell and waited. The door slid opened and she smiled. “Hello Anthony.” 

“Hello Lizzie.”


	19. Chapter 19

It was the 3rd week in November, almost Thanksgiving, when I realized I had become a raging insomniac. Well, I had noticed before, but I figured with the stress of Mack getting hurt, and starting our new classes it would just be a temporary thing and I would sleep soon. 

Especially since our new classes had started and 2 hours of our day consisted of Baran was running us hard. We were learning to run faster, punch harder and leap higher. Which you would think would make me so tired I would sleep regardless of how I was feeling. 

The other 3 hours were spent in Vampires: History & Facts. We were learning everything Vampire. I think it hurt Mr. Connors a little to actually teach us how to be mean to his own species, but he never said anything it was just how he looked sometimes when he would tell us the best way to slow a Vampire down would be to get it on its back and shove Platinum into his brain. 

“Attacking the heart,” Mr. Connors had said, “Never does anything. A heart can be fixed, the head on the other hand, homes the brain. And the brain is what controls all of your functions. Once your brain goes, so goes the rest of the body.” 

Maybe that was what caused my sleep troubles. Thinking about all that before going to sleep does not really induce much of a relaxing atmosphere. 

At first, I would sleep for a sleep for a couple hours, then I would wake up, one, two in the morning. I would listen to my heart pound in my ears as my nerves stretched tighter and tighter. I wouldn’t be able to breathe, which would freak me out enough that I would just get up, go into the living room and either watch TV, or text Aiden. . 

Eventually, even that stopped. It got to the point where I was downing red bull and 5 hour energy shots every morning and telling everyone I was great. 

The only respite I had was on Saturday afternoons at 1:00 pm. That is when our Saturday classes got out and I could go see Mama and Mack. Mack had gotten settled at Laura’s and was doing much better. She had noticed that I wasn’t really sleeping, but I had been evasive enough that she had not been able to pin me down to ask me about it. Thank God. 

On Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving Baran blew his whistle and ended class a little early. We collapsed in front of him panting. He smirked as he stood in front of us and put his hands on his hips. 

“Well, I have to say that when you guys first started off, you were a bunch of wimps. I am quite impressed of how far you have come. Also considering I have been running you into the ground, you are holding up pretty well. Since Thanksgiving is tomorrow and we won’t see each other for 4 whole days, I wanted to make a few announcements. First of all, starting Monday, we are no longer going to be working on Hand to Hand, we are moving on to weapons. And trust me, these are not going to be your standard play weapons, they will be able to injure others. So guys, best wear a cup around the girls.” 

A few people groaned, but Baran just smirked. “Next piece of news, there was rumors of another vampire attack at an unauthorized party down in the woods. I am not naming names, but we all know who did it.” His gaze flicked over to where Damien was sitting, who just met his stare. 

Myself, I had a blush skating around my cheeks as Baran continued. “That attack was proven false, it was apparently a couple of guys trying to be funny. But, even that being said, I want everyone to remember to be alert during vacation. Most of you are staying here, but a few have family in town. So stay safe.” 

“In other news, Mackenzie will be rejoining us for school after Thanksgiving. She will be remaining in her off campus location, and won’t be actively participating in Defense class, however, she will be observing, so anything negative you want to say to her, keep it under your hat or my foot goes up your ass.” 

When no one said anything, he blew his whistle. “DISMISSED!” 

Even though we were all tired and sore, we jumped up and ran to the locker rooms. Most of the kids were staying, but Aiden was taking Mari, Paige and I down to Mama’s 

 

Thanksgiving Day was amazing. We opened the sliding walls between the two apartments and put the two kitchen tables together. I was in the kitchen helping Mama peel potatoes when we were interrupted by a loud knock on the door. Mama looked at the clock and then back at me and shrugged. “Go see who it is please love.” 

I set down my peeler and walked to the front door. When I opened it I almost slammed it shut again. “Oh god who invited you?” 

Aiden pushed the door open more and stepped in. “Your mother did and Happy Thanksgiving to you too.” He handed me a bouquet of flowers and looked over my shoulder. “Grace Happy Thanksgiving, you look lovely.” He handed her a bottle of wine which made her raise her eyebrows. “Don’t worry, I had Baran buy it for me and I don’t plan on drinking any.” 

“That’s what I like to hear. Amaia, go put those flowers in a vase and set them on the table. Aiden, please make yourself comfortable.” 

He sat down on the couch as I put the flowers on the table. “Nice dress, it looks great on you.” 

Since it was Thanksgiving, and he was a guest, not to mention Mama was within earshot, I plastered a smile on. “Thank you, you look quite nice too.” 

“I notice, you are always wearing that necklace. Why is that?” 

I pressed my hand to the necklace and rubbed my fingers against it. “Elizabeth gave it to me.” 

 

He smiled. “It compliments you.” 

I finished fussing with the flowers and turned to look at him. “Ok, who are you and what have you done with Aiden?” 

He opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by Celine Dion playing. He blinked his eyes. “Uh what?” 

I shook my head and smiled again, this time it wasn’t forced. “Mama loves Celine Dion. Particularly this song.”

He chuckled again and for lack of something to do, I asked. “Can I get you something to drink?” 

He shook his head. “I am afraid of it being dumped on my head.” 

“Please, my mother is nearby, I would not risk her ire on this of the most joyous occasions.” 

He smirked at me but nodded. “Ok, a glass of soda would be great thanks.” 

I went back into the kitchen. I shot a look at Mama who was swaying to the music and got a glass from the cupboard. “Who invited the Vampire?” I muttered. 

Mama stopped singing and looked over at me. “I invited him because I do not understand the need in you to antagonize the poor guy. You are usually the friendliest person in the world, but for some reason you just are…” She waved her hands in the air. “With Aiden and I don’t understand….” Her eyes got huge and she clapped her hands over her mouth, mirth filling her eyes. “Oh my god.” 

I gasped softly and shook my head. “No, no! Stop what you are thinking right now!” 

She leaned back against the counter, her hand still pressed against her mouth. I dumped some ice into the glass and then poured some soda over the top. I grabbed the glass and stomped out of the kitchen. When I handed it to Aiden, I could see the questions in his eyes as peals of laughter erupted from the kitchen. I shook my head. “If you want to keep your sanity, you will not ask anything. Just drink your drink, I have to go do something.” 

I walked down the hall as the music in the stereo turned to a different Celine song, which happened to be my favorite, ‘That’s the way it is’. I needed to get a grip on myself and wearing this dress was not helping matters at all. I needed to change. I dug through my limited wardrobe, hoping to find something else. I finally settled on a pair of black leggings to go under the blue dress I was wearing. It would be a bit warm, but at least I could feel a little more in control of the situation.

I walked back into the living room to find Mari on the couch talking to Aiden. Damien sat across from them in the chair, listening to them. “Hey guys.” I greeted them politely. 

Mari smiled and got up to hug me. “Thank you for inviting us!” 

“Well Mama wanted a houseful and I figured you guys wouldn’t have anything to do.” 

She smiled and nodded. “I still appreciate it.”

I looked over at Damien who smiled and tapped a box on the floor. “I brought a game we can play after dinner.” He tapped the box that said Cards Against Humanity. 

I frowned at it. “I have never heard of that.” 

He smiled. “It’s a blast trust me.” 

“Well, I will just have to take your word for it.” 

Our conversation was interrupted when I heard a small thump. Mack had walked from Laura’s house into the living room. She smiled at all of us and walked over to the couch. “Vampy, move I need to sit down.” Aiden jumped to his feet and moved next to me. I stepped back and almost fell on my ass. “Uh, anyone want something to drink?” 

Mack gave me a long look and then shrugged. “I will take a coke.” 

I didn’t wait for anyone else’s drink order, Mack’s seemed like a good enough excuse to book it. When I got into the kitchen, Mama was still working on the food. As I got Mack’s drink, I asked her if she needed any help. 

Mama shook her head. “No that’s ok love. I would hate to pull you away from your friends.” 

I muttered under my breath and went back into the living room to give Mack her drink. Paige had joined the group and was sitting on the floor at Mack’s feet talking about the new Sailor Moon show that was being streamed online. “It started in July, it’s on a break right now, but it’s supposed to come back in a few weeks.” 

Aiden frowned a little, “Who or what is Sailor Moon?” 

We all stared at him, Paige’s mouth dropped opened. “You don’t know WHO Sailor Moon is?” 

He shook his head. “Uh, should I?” 

Apparently the answer was yes since Paige whipped out her phone and started showing him all the Sailor Moon videos on YouTube. Mack was on her phone telling Sammy that Aiden had NO idea who Sailor Moon was. 

He looked at me for help and I just shrugged. I was glad to have the attention off of me since Mack had been shooting me looks since she walked in. And, there was no time to ask me anything since Mama called us to the able to eat. 

My luck didn’t hold out though, since Mack sat down next to me with Aiden across from me. 

We said a blessing and then started passing food around. Once everyone had their food and got into conversations, Mack leaned over to me. “Getting much sleep?” 

I flinched a little. “I don’t know what you are talking about.” 

“Bullshit.” She said easily. “The bags under your eyes are almost swallowing your head.” 

I bit my lip and said nothing. She looked over at Aiden. “How long has she been like this?” 

Aiden sighed. “Like I said, a couple of weeks. I can’t get her to sleep I have tried.” 

Mack rolled her eyes. “Clearly you have not tried hard enough. Look at her!” 

Aiden narrowed his eyes. “I will remind you Mack, you are not at the dorms. So you don’t know how hard I have tried or WHAT I have tried.” 

She stuck out her tongue and then turned back to me. “You need to sleep. You look like one of Freddie Krueger’s victims’ right before he slices and dices them.” 

“I can’t sleep. I try. But I just…can’t.” 

Mack huffed. “You are just stressed out. And I am sure the Red Bull in your system and the Five Hour Energy is not helping anything. You need to stop it.” 

“I am scared to sleep.” 

“Why?” 

“Because what if something happens to you while I am sleeping? What if I can’t get there fast enough? What if-” 

“If, if, if. If ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ were candy and nuts, we would ALL have a Merry Christmas.” 

I blinked at her and started to laugh. “Don’t worry about me. I am fine. I am safe. You need to sleep. End of story.” 

It was really hard to argue with that logic, especially when she was glaring at me with those dark eyes. What else could I say but, “Ok fine whatever Mack.” 

 

Towards the end of dinner, Sammy popped in and had some pie. Mack was very excited and spend the rest of dinner talking to him thank god. 

After dinner was eaten, the dishes done and the mom’s had gone to their respective beds, Damien pulled out the game. 

“Ok everyone, to start the game, each player draws ten White Cards.” He set out the stack and we all started grabbing cards. 

“I will be the Card Czar. My job will be to play the Black Card. I will read the black card out loud and then the rest of you will play your white card that sounds like it would best complete the sentence on the black card. Whoever the winner is will be the next Card Czar. And whoever has the most black cards at the end of the game wins. Got it? 

Everyone nodded and Damien pulled out a black card, but before he could read it, Aiden said. “Wait a second.” 

Damien frowned a little. “Wait for what?” 

Aiden shrugged. “I need some music. Amaia, can we play some?” 

“Ummm, I don’t think you guys would like Mama’s CDs. But she got a Sirius Radio, we could play that.” 

I got up and turned on the radio. It was on Channel 9 and Lisa Loeb was happily playing I do. I looked at the others. “Should I change it?” 

Mack shook her head. “Nah, leave it alone. We might hear Old School Backstreet Boys.” 

I smiled and sat back down on the floor next to Aiden. Damien cleared his throat and read the black card. “But, before I kill you Mr. Bond, I must show you blank.” 

I shuffled through the cards I had. I wrinkled my nose at some of them, they were a little rude. I looked up at Damien. “Um, Damien?” 

He smiled. “Yes some of the cards are a little dirty, but that is half the fun and no one knows who has what card, so you are safe. Come on.” 

I shook my head and looked back down at my cards. I finally chose one and pushed it face down towards Damien. He took it and smiled at me. 

Eventually everyone handed in a card. Damien shuffled through them. “Ok to re-read. But before I kill you Mr. Bond, I must show you…” 

He picked up a white card. “Hope.” He looked around and smiled, flipping to the next card. “Lance Armstrong’s remaining ball, a big black dick, concealing a boner, that ass, another shot of morphine.” 

We sat in stunned silence for a few seconds and then started to laugh. It was hysterical! 

Damien shuffled through the cards and finally picked one. “Ok, winner of this is Big Black Dick. Who had that one?” 

There was a pause and then I lifted his hand. I heard Aiden suck in a breath, trying to fight the giggles but Damien beat him to it. “Guess we know what Mai really likes huh? Sorry Aiden.” 

Mack completely lost her shit at that point. “Oh, Mai, my girl. I knew there was a sassy little minx in you." Mack said as she leaned over to high five me.

I blushed and took the black cards. 

Damien smiled and said. “Ok everyone take a new white card to replace the one that was lost.” 

We all took another card and the game was on. I cleared my throat. “To help separate Church and State, American money will now read ‘In blank We Trust.” 

I waited as everyone shuffled through their cards again. I caught the faint sound of humming as Lisa Loeb stopped playing and Backstreet Boys on came on, claiming they wanted it that way. I looked over from where it seemed to be coming from and it was Mack. “Backstreet Fan?” 

She smiled. “I am well rounded girl when it comes to music. I can go from pop to heavy metal to country to Christian. And let's not forget my love of the really old school 50's music.” 

Paige laughed. “Mack, I never knew you were such a connoisseur of music.”

Mack batted her eyes. “There are many things you don’t know about me Paige.” 

Mari blew out a breath. “Are we going to play or flap our gums?” 

Everyone laughed and handed me their cards, I said. “Ok again, ‘To help separate Church and State, American money will now read ‘In blank We Trust.” I flipped through the white cards and giggled. “Apparently, we trust in having sex on pizza, smallpox blankets, smoking crack, Justin Bieber, Double Penetration and Dorito Breath.”

I looked over the cards again. “Gotta go with Dorito breath. How can you not trust that?” 

Mack hooted. “Oh lordy, guess it’s my turn.” 

 

We played a few more rounds, until Sammy got a text from his Mom that he needed to get home, and Damien got a phone call he had to take. Mack walked Sammy to the door and what they did outside, no one knows, but she came back in with flushed cheeks. She announced that she was tired and was going to go lay down. Paige walked over to Laura’s with her. Mari said she was going to go with Damien back to the dorms. Which left Aiden and I in the living room chatting. 

We talked until I started yawning. He laughed and rubbed my head. “Looks like you are finally getting tired.” 

“No I am just…yawning.” 

He quirked an eyebrow at me and stood up. “I better get going myself.” 

I stood up fast. “No, stay, I am not tired.” 

He laughed. “To bed.” He walked over to turn off the Sirius Radio when the opening tune of Meatloaf’s I’d Do Anything for Love (But i won`t do that) came on. He paused and looked over at me. “Want to dance really fast? We haven’t since Halloween.” 

I smirked at him. “A date, dancing, stalking. What’s next? Marriage?” 

He shuddered a little. “God forbid that.” He teased as he pulled me close to him. He pulled my hands up so my arms went around his neck. He put his hands on my waist and we swayed to the music. When the music sped up, he twirled me around and moved a little faster. I did my best to keep up, but for some reason looking into his green eyes was making me more tired than I had been just a few minutes before. 

When the chorus rose up, the words echoed in my head. “As long as your prayers are coming true. You'd better believe it, that I would do Anything for love. And you know it's true and that's a fact.” I suddenly felt so dizzy that I fell against Aiden. He lifted me into his arms carrying me bridal style down the hall to my room. I could barely keep my eyes opened, but I knew he had something to do with this. He had done this before. As he laid me down on my bed, I felt the soft thump of the cats jumping onto the bed, purring loudly. He kissed my forehead and pulled the comforter over me. “Sleep tight Amaia.” 

The last sound I heard was the door shutting. 

 

The weekend went by way to fast. It was so fun to spend time with Mack and Paige. Mari came over a few times, sans Damien. Aiden was strangely absent, something Mama and Paige like to comment pointedly at. Mama mostly asking questions, Paige humming Kiss the Girl a LOT. 

I ignored both of them, but quietly I was wondering the same things myself. 

 

School started back up bright and early Monday morning. Mack was dropped off by Laura and of course had to point out right away. “You look much better without the luggage.” 

I rolled my eyes. “Too bad you are handicapped, you could be learning kick ass moves like I am.” 

“Psh, you are starting weapons. I am glad I am out of the way.” 

“Oh shut up.” 

Mack sat with us through morning classes and even participated a few times. It was nice to see her getting back into the routine. She did leave early to go do her therapy, but said she would meet us for lunch. 

After lunch, we made our way to Baran’s class. We changed and went down to the floor. Baran had a long line of bows and arrows on the floor. Baran waited until we were all seated before speaking. “Now, we have moved onto weapons. These, next to the hand to hand, are going to be your greatest allies. We are going to start small with bows and arrows. I hope over the next couple of days to move up to knives and guns. But for now, bows and arrows. Everyone up and line up. 

He walked down the line handing us bows and 3 arrows. I took them in my hands and took a deep breath. I could do this. It was just bows and arrows, we were not shooting at live people, it would be fine. 

“Ok, archers take your mark!” 

I took a breath, put my arrow in the bow, lined it up and let it go. There was a loud thump as arrows hit the targets set up across from me. 

And then there was a crash when mine went through a window 

Baran walked over to me and looked at the broken window. “Green Eyes, you missed the target. A lot.” 

I smiled a little. “Ummm yeah. Should I try again?” 

“I think it would be safer for all involved if you sat this one out wait until we get back to hand to hand.” 

I blew out a breath and went to sit back down. I watched as the others practiced shooting arrows. Mack came and sat next to me. “Cheer up, you might do better with shooting guns.” 

I just groaned at the thought. 

 

An hour and half later, the other kids had stopped shooting and sat down around me again. “Ok we are once again going to work on hand to hand again. But I am going to use Aiden to work a demonstration. As I demonstrate, I will name off what I am doing.” 

Aiden walked in front of Baran and put his hands out Baran grabbed his forearms and flipped Aiden onto his back. “Now, you won’t be able to do that by yourself until you are older, but with two of you, it would be possible. 

He showed a us a few more moves with Aiden that resulted in Aiden being slammed into the soft, bouncy floor. 

Sammy wandered over to where Mack and I were sitting. She looked over at him. “So, can you fight like that?” She asked Sammy 

Sammy huffed out a laugh. “Even after all these years I’m still nowhere near his level.”

A smile curved Mack’s lips “In other words you’re good, but not that good.” She said as she bumped Sammy’s shoulder and winked at him.

Sammy smiled back. “At least I will always be better than you are.” 

“Yeah ok Sammy Boy.” 

 

Over the next couple of days, we spent an hour and half doing hand to hand and an hour and a half doing weapons. I got to try bows and arrows, and once again shot an arrow too high, but instead of breaking a window, it just lodged in the ceiling. 

When we moved onto guns on Wednesday, Baran tentatively handed me one. “These are not real bullets so, I don’t think you can really hurt anything. Thank god.” 

Baran explained about how shooting the gun will cause a little kick back, to brace ourselves so we don’t fall on our asses. He set up the targets and had us each get into proper stance. “When I give the signal, aim at the target, one at a time please!”

Down the line the guns were fired, I noticed Aiden moving by the targets, not in front of them just to the side. When it was my turn, Baran waved his hand. I got into my stance and squeezed off a round. 

There was a boom and then screaming. 

Aiden grabbed his foot and Aiden fell backwards onto the ground. "Oh GOD! SHE SHOT ME! WHAT THE HELL!" Of course he wasn't really hurt, but it must have stung. I dropped the gun and ran over to him. "I am sorry! I told them not to let me shoot it." I kneeled down next to him as Baran peeled Aiden's hand away from his foot. 

He glared at me. "God Amaia. I take you out on one date and its opened season on my foot. What did it ever do to you?"

Mack walked over and hissed as Baran took the shoe off. “It looks bad but you are a vamp, so you will heal. So, suck it up buttercup, it's not like we're using platinum bullets." 

Aiden narrowed his gaze at Mack. “Let me shoot you in the foot so you can see how it feels. Because hey, your half vampire it won’t kill you.”

Baran growled as more kids gathered. "If you both don’t shut up I'm going to shoot you and let me say this it isn’t going to be in the foot but it will be damn uncomfortable for you to sit down for a while."

Paige walked over and looked over everyone's shoulders. "Good job Mai. Your second time wielding a weapon and you shoot a vampire through the foot. I think you should be first on the battlefield."

Mari nodded her head in agreement with Paige but added. "At least she did hit something this time. From what I heard they never could find that arrow she shot."

Mack smirked while Aiden grumbled in humiliation. “I am sure it hit some unknown Vamp in the ass who still doesn't understand where it came from.”

“Ok kids, I think we can call an end to the class, I need to take Aiden to the infirmary.” 

We all stood up, Sammy walked over and slid his arm around Aiden to help him get to his feet. I bit my lip. “I am sorry Aiden.” 

He sighed. “It’s ok, my fault for walking to close on your side. I think next time I will wear armor.” 

I groaned softly and watched him limp away. “Can’t handle weapons, that much is apparent.” I muttered to myself as I walked out of the gym.


	20. Chapter 20

The three of them gathered in the woods, one cold night in December. Damien stood in front of the woman that owned his soul, waiting for Matt to arrive. He said nothing to her, it was easier not to speak to her, easier to ignore her than try and make small talk. But, she apparently though that talking was something that HAD to be done. 

“You came alone.” 

“You requested that I do so.” 

“It was merely a ruse, I expect everyone that has a hand in this to be here.” 

“Well I will relay whatever information is pertinent.” 

“That is not the point-!” 

They both jumped at the sound of a something snapping and footsteps. Matt appeared and smiled. “Did someone call for a sexy devil cause I am here.” 

Damien rolled his eyes as the woman said. “Thank you Matt for joining us.” 

“Not a problem, I live to serve and all of that jazz.” 

The woman glared at him. “The timeline has been skewed due to bungling. Now the school is on lock down, but according to information from Damien, we are going to have a small window of opportunity. We will take this window and do what needs to be done. Anyone that tries to stop us will be dealt with swiftly. No Mistakes this time. None. Do you understand?” 

The two nodded and a haughty smile curled her lips. “Then let us be done with them.” 

 

As November melted into December and January and we faded into February, our lovely break that we enjoyed started winding down. Christmas flew by so fast it seemed like it never happened. We had a lovely dinner and I got a very pretty vanity dressing mirror. It was a good place to hold my jewelry she said. And since Aiden had gotten me a very pretty bracelet, I was left wondering if they had cooked it up themselves. 

Towards the end of vacation, Mama and Laura decided to take us all out to get dresses for the Valentine’s Dance. It was another Christmas Gift for all of us. Since the shop in town didn’t really have anything for us, Mama decided to take us to the mainland. 

That was met with some objection but once Sammy and Aiden said they would go, everyone calmed down a little. We had to go to Santa Rosa though since Eureka and all surrounding areas didn’t really have good dresses. So Mama rented a car, we drove across on the ferry and headed down to Santa Rosa. 

Sitting in a car with two guys though to go dress shopping was not really a pleasant experience. Especially with Aiden grumbling to himself the whole time. When we finally stopped for lunch, I almost jumped over the top of him to get out of the car. He gave me a weird look as he got out. “What’s the issue?” 

“Oh I don’t know, maybe for the past hour and a half you have been complaining under your breath about going dress shopping.” 

“I am a guy, I don’t do this.” 

I rolled my eyes and caught up with the girls, who were of course talking about dress ideas. 

When we sat down for lunch, Mama interrupted the dress talk. “Well, I think we should remember that Valentine’s Day is another interesting event.” 

My cheeks warmed up fast and I slid down in the booth. Mack glanced at me and then back at Mama. “No.” 

Mama nodded. “Yes.” 

Mack started laughing. “Oh my god, Little Amaia is turning 16!” 

I groaned softly. “Come on you guys.” 

Mari started to laugh. “No, this is so great! We are having a dance on your birthday! Oh my god! And I bet you will get your first kiss on there!”

Mack laughed harder and nudged Aiden. “How about it Vampy? You gonna kiss Amaia under the paper hearts?” 

Aiden groaned and Paige cleared her throat. “Guys, come on. Let’s calm down. We shouldn’t be teasing them. Having your birthday on Valentine’s Day is hard enough without making a big thing out of it.” 

The others quieted down and then Paige lifted her head and started to sing at the top of her lung. “And you don’t know why but you’re dying to try, you wanna kiss the girl!” 

Sammy who had been sipping soda started laughing so hard it sprayed out of his nose. Mama was even cracking up. Thank God we had Laura, she tapped the table hard. “Ok stop it. We are on a mission to get dresses not tease Amaia. Now let’s order some lunch and then get back to the mission.” 

Things quieted down after that, we had lunch and then got back onto the road. We made it down to Santa Rosa just as the mall was opening, so we found a great spot and parked. We started walking to the entrance and of course, the mall had a giant mural of Snoopy on the side of the wall. He was on his dog house dressed as the World War I Flying Ace. 

Mack shook her head. “I like Snoopy, but this town seems obsessed with him.” 

“Charles Schulz lived here. It’s sorta a thing here.” 

Mack smiled. “I am down with having a ‘thing’ in places but, there is only so much Snoopy that can be stomached in one setting.” 

Sammy came up behind her and squeezed her hand. “I am sure Snoopy feels the same way about you Mack.” 

She smacked him the shoulder and started chasing him as he ran. I blew out a breath. “I think we should have just let Mack wear jeans to the dance.” 

Laura shook her head. “No, no. She has been cooped up for the past couple of weeks, let her run and have some fun.” 

I blew out a breath and nodded. I could understand, I had seen Mack practically climb the walls with being limited to the things she could do. I am sure blowing off steam with Sammy was good for her. 

We went into the double doors with Mack and Sammy running ahead of us. Mama shook her head. “Aiden, why don’t you go scoop up Sammy and go check out Tuxes, so we can take the girls dress shopping.” 

Aiden nodded and moved with his Vampire speed, grabbed Sammy by the arm and walked him off. Mack stuck out her tongue and walked back to us. “Ok, let’s get this over with.” 

I smiled at her. “Mack dress shopping is fun!” 

Mack shook her head as we walked over to the Juniors Section. “I don’t do dresses. They are girly. This is why I was a Ninja for Halloween. Unlike Miss Hood over there.” 

I rolled my eyes, but Laura smiled and walked over to Mack. “You don’t have to wear a dress, but you do need to dress up in something. You need to look pretty.” 

She walked her over to a rack of black pants with Paige trailing after us to look a dresses. Mama started flipping through dresses, cooing over one and then another. She pulled a pretty strapless red dress off the rack. 

“Oh Mari! This will look so pretty on you! Look here, its ankle length, but tiered so it looks like its several different lengths. A pair of red shoes and some jewelry, you will look beautiful. Here go try it on.” 

Paige and I flipped through the dresses, I was looking for something special. Something that would pop. Nothing was speaking to me though. Paige squealed and pulled out a pretty one shoulder dark blue dress with a Rhinestone clip on the top. It was a high low cut and had a train behind it. I squealed over it, it was so pretty. Mama sent Paige off to try it on and Mack walked with her carrying a bundle of clothes in her arms. Mama looked at me. “Now my sweet daughter. Let’s see if we can find something. 

20 minutes later, we were still hunting for my dress. The other girls looked amazing, even Mack who was in wide cut leg pants that looked like a long skirt with a white Chiffon Tunic Top that was decorated with thin line of sheer shimmery fabric that made it sparkle a little when it hit the light. 

They all looked amazing, but this did not help in my dress search. 

I was about to give up and just tell Mama I would go in sweat pants when the sales clerk came out and told Mama they had a special order dress for a Quinceañera that had not been picked up. 

Mama nodded. “Sure, I guess we can take a look at it.” 

The sales woman went to the back and came back with what looked like a purple cloud in a plastic bag. She handed it to Mama and we went into the dressing rooms. 

Mama actually made me turn my back to the wall while she helped me put it on and zipped me up. And then her breath caught. “Turn around Amaia my love.” 

I turned around and looked in the mirror. When I saw the image in front of me, my breath caught too. The dress was a ball gown style, with two layers. The top layer had Rhinestone pick-ups with white embroidery along the edges and over the bodice. It was off shoulder and looked great against my dark hair. I opened and closed my mouth a few times, behind me Mama was grinning widely. “You look amazing. Let’s go show everyone!” 

I let her drag me out of the dressing room to where everyone was waiting. Everyone gasped softly, they stared at me with huge dark eyes. And then I noticed a pair of green eyes staring at me. 

“Mai, you look amazing.” Mack said softly. 

“That is THE dress.” Paige agreed. 

I was smiled and spread out the skirt. “Do you guys think so?” 

It was Aiden that sealed it when he spoke softly. “You are going to shine.” 

Mama turned to the sales clerk. “SOLD!” 

 

We took our dresses home, I was a little worried about the sizing between now and Valentine’s Day, but Mack just rolled her eyes.

“Amaia, you would have to eat 50 million pounds of food to even make that waist stretch. Besides that, Baran is going to be running our asses into the ground after that break, you won’t have time to gain weight.” 

I blew out my breath, Mack just made too much sense sometimes. “Paige, are you going to invite Gavin to the dance?” 

She nodded. “I was actually going to do it on the way back to the dorm. Aiden, do you mind if we stop?” 

“I guess not.”

When we made it back to the house, we got out of the car and I sighed heavily. Mama gave me a hug. “Come on, you still need to pack up and hit the road, it’s almost curfew.” 

I blew out a breath and Aiden laughed as he got out of the car. “Do you mind if I come in Grace?” 

“Not at all Aiden. Come on young women, let’s get packing.”

I drug my feet into the house and back to my room. When I lifted my duffle bag onto the bed, Maisie jumped into it and meowed loudly. I stroked her head gently. “I know, I have enjoyed myself too, but now it’s back to the grind.” 

I lifted her out of the duffle bag and she jumped to the floor in a huff. I looked over my shoulder as there was a knock on the door. I smiled at Mama and went to my dresser to grab my clothes. “Are you sure I can’t stay?” 

“We have talked about this.” Mama said as she hung up my dress in the closet. “You are safer at the dorms, you are getting ready to start school, and, well it’s not like you are going off to war. You will be back this weekend.”

“I have school on Saturday.” 

“I am sure with vacation being over they are going to calm things down a little bit. And you know we will have the whole weekend for Valentine’s Day. I am sure you girls will want to come over here to get ready.” 

I smiled at her and nodded. She gave me a hug and kissed my head. “Now hurry up, curfew is getting close.” 

I sighed and started stuffing my things into the bag faster. 

Once I was finished, Mama walked me outside to wear Aiden was waiting. She kissed me again. “See you when I see you.” 

I rolled my eyes and got into the backseat. Mack looked back at me. “I hope you don’t mind me sitting next to your boyfriend, I mean, I am injured.” 

“Please Mack, you are bouncing back faster than a rubber ball. You are just milking the sympathy points from wherever you can get them.” 

Mack’s face spazzes through like four different kinds of looks before she settled on pouting. “I am not.” 

Paige huffed next to me. “Uh yeah, you kinda are. You had me bringing you things when you could get them yourself. I had to peel grapes for you!” 

“I have a sensitive pallet that-Aiden, what are you doing?” 

Aiden had one hand on the steering wheel, with the other hand he was rubbing two fingers together. “This is the world’s smallest violin playing My Heart Bleeds for you.” 

Mack blinked her eyes and then stuck her tongue out. “Oh shut up Vampy.” 

She was quiet for the ride down to town, we passed by the Municipal Auditorium where the dance would be held. I sighed softly looking at it. “That will be long walk back to Mama’s after the dance.” 

Aiden chuckled. “I am sure someone will take pity on your poor feet and give you a ride.” 

I sighed again as Aiden pulled into the garage where Gavin worked. Paige jumped out of the car and ran over to him as he came out of the building and threw herself into his arms. I couldn’t hear what they were saying but the kisses that were exchanged said a lot of things. 

Aiden had to honk the horn after 10 minutes to get Paige back into the car. When she got in with her flushed cheeks I smiled at her. “So did he say yes?” 

“Yes to what? Oh!” She rolled down the window and blast of frigid air hit my face. “Hey Gavin! Want to go to the Valentine’s Dance with me?” 

I groaned softly and pulled my hood up over my head to keep the cold out as she rolled the window back up. “Paige seriously? You guy just kissed out there?” 

“I was just trying to keep my lips warm.” 

I groaned softly. “Please get me out of this car before someone is injured.” 

“Can’t be me,” Mack said, “I am already injured.” 

 

On February 2nd, school started up again. We had a meeting in the auditorium with Kendra again who welcomed us back. 

“I hope everyone is well rested from your break. I have spoken to all the teachers and they have all agreed that we can get back to normal life. Security is still on high alert and of course, the curfew is still in effect. But it’s not all gloom and doom, next week I am pleased to announce that we are once again going to be having our Valentine’s Dance! 

Everyone started clapping and cheering. I know we had just come from Vacation, but come on, how many kids actually like getting back to school? Something exciting is always fun. 

Kendra dismissed us and off to class we went. Getting back into the normal subjects was like seeing an old friend again. I even smiled at Miss Hibert, who for that made me solve an equation on the board. Old Bat. 

In Vampires: History & Facts., Mr. Connors wrote on the board. “Pregnancy and Dhampirs.” Someone must have made a weird noise because he turned. “I know this should be things that are covered in Dhampir lessons, but this is Vampire related. We all know the story of how Dhampirs were created with Elizabeth Bathory and her husband, but what do we know about Dhampirs that come from a Vampire Union?” 

“The short answer is, we don’t really know anything. Because Vampires don’t have the ability to hold themselves back to be with humans. Their blood lust becomes too strong and they kill them. Dhampirs are a different matter. According to a few rumors, Dhampirs and Vampires have mated and produced children.” 

The hair on the back of my neck stood up and I sat higher, my attention focused squarely on Mr. Connors. “We know little about these children or what they look like. The only thing that we know with certainty is the children are raised on the Vampire side and they sometimes have stronger abilities than the normal Dhampir.” 

I raised my hand. “So these kids are raised to hate their other side?” 

“As far as we know yes.” 

I bit my lip and the roaring in my ears drowned out the rest of the lesson. Dhampir kids raised with Vampires. Never knowing their true self, maybe I was feeling a little weepy after my long vacation but that made me tear up a little. 

I almost ran over the top of the other kids when the bell rang. I got to the locker room and changed into my sweats, ready to have my ass handed to me. Well, I am sure we were all going to have our asses handed to us, it had been awhile since we had seen Baran’s smiling face. Ok, not smiling face, but less frowny face would be a good phrase. I walked out to the gym and leaned against the railing watching Sammy and Aiden set some things up. It looked almost like an obstacle course. 

“Oh shit.” I muttered under my breath. 

I heard Mack chuckle next to me, that girl had feet like a cat. “Potty mouth. Yes it looks like as a welcome back gift Baran has put together a lovely obstacle course for us. Also, I think we are going to be knife training too.” 

“Lovely.” 

She nodded. “But, bright side. I don’t have to do it! I am still on light duty.” 

“Mack, you can’t use that excuse forever.” Paige said coming around the other side. 

“Trust me, I want to be out there more than you know. I feel like a broken wheel on a wagon.” 

I shook my head. “It’s not THAT bad Mack seriously.” 

She just shook her head and went down the ramp, Paige and I followed her down. 

Mari joined us on the floor a few minutes later and we sat down on the edge of the floor and watched the boys. Baran finally walked over and blew his whistle. “We are going to have some fun today kiddos. You are going to work this obstacle course today and whoever is the slowest, you get the honor of running suicides for the rest of the week while the rest of us learn knife fighting. And then at the beginning of next week, we will see if you are any faster when you run it again. So line up! Not you Mack, I saw that.” 

She growled and stalked over to where Sammy was standing. He had been doing her little exercises with her, trying to get her back into fighting shape. They hoped to have her back into the swing of things by the end of the month. 

I got into line with everyone else and sighed when Baran blew his whistle again. “Ok now, you are going to be undertaking this obstacle course. You will go three at a time, once the first set of 3 clears the first part, the next set will go and so on and so forth.” 

“First up will be the net climbing, don’t get tangled or you fall down and start again. Next will be the tires, there are 16 of them that you have to hop through. You fall down, you get to start again. Then you will crawl through the tunnels, and then climb another net. First person to the end gets to sit out the rest of the day, last person suicides, GO!” He blew his whistle again we were off and running. I had Paige on my left and Damien on my right. 

We hit the wall at the same time, poor Paige though got tangled in the mesh and had to drop down and start again. Damien and I made it over the wall and dropped to the floor below. Aiden waved us on. “Go go!” 

I kept running bouncing through the tires. I almost fell at one point but managed to balance myself. Damien did fall, but got up a split second later. I hit the tunnels and literally dived into them and started crawling as fast as I could. I could hear the tunnels knocking against mine as I crawled. They had either caught up to me or were getting ahead. He flew out of the end of the tube and then ran to the wall. I climbed up the netting, fell over the other side and ran over to Baran. He tweeted his whistle and fell down at his feet. 

“Good job green eyes, second place.” 

“W-What? Who beat me?” I looked up and was surprised to see Paige sitting on the sidelines. I crawled over and flopped next to her. “How in the world did you get here so fast?” 

She smiled. “Not falling on the tires gave me an advantage. Damien slowed down in the tunnels on and on the net wall again, so here I am.” 

“But you were behind me.” 

“Honey I blew past you in the tunnels.” 

I laughed weakly and leaned against her. Once everyone was done, Baran stepped in front of us. “Well bad news is, we don’t get to work on knife training today so we will do that tomorrow. Worse news is, Miss Mari, you are the slowest one. You get to run suicides until I say stop. Everyone else, dismissed!” 

I am not ashamed to say, I limped to the showers. 

For the next week, we worked on Knife Training. The knives we used were military grade and could do some serious damage, but Aiden was safe because they were not platinum based. But I noticed he stayed far, far away from me while we were training. 

Finally, Friday the 14th arrived. Dance Day and my birthday. The girls and I got permission to go to my mom’s and skip class for the day so we could celebrate. We went to Applebee’s, went and got our hair and nails done. The biggest surprise was when Mama gave me a very pretty diamond bracelet as a present. “Your grandfather gave this to me. I think he got it from Elizabeth. But I know she would want you to have it.” 

Finally, dance time arrived. Gavin showed up first and took Paige to the dance. Sammy showed up with Aiden in his dad’s Tahoe. When they came to the door to escort Mack and me, I had to laugh a little. “No jeep?” 

He shook his head. “I didn’t want to hear any complaints of how your hair got messed up.” 

Mack rolled her eyes and touched her newly curled hair. “I am not a complainer, but I do look nice so watch those hands bucko.” 

He laughed and kissed her hand as he helped her into the front seat. I climbed into the back seat with Aiden. He smiled at me. “Happy Birthday by the way.” 

 

I smiled at him and curled my hand around his. He hummed with pleasure. 

As we drove down to the Municipal, there was a crackling on the radio and voice that said “Perimeter Secure, moving on to the next. That’s a 10-4, thanks for checking in.” 

I leaned forward. “What is that?” 

“That is my dad’s scanner. He uses it to listen for trouble.” 

I laughed. “Are we expecting trouble?” 

“Not that I know of.” 

We pulled in front of the Auditorium and Sammy groaned. “Man this place is packed.” 

“Well we can walk and you can park.” 

“Yeah that sounds good. Mack do you mind?” 

“Not in the slightest, I love walking places in the freezing cold.” 

Everyone laughed as we got out of the car. And it was cold. Thankfully I had a wrap but Mack did not. So Aiden put his arms around both of us. 

When we got to the door, Mack made a face at all the pink crepe paper hanging around with hearts and soft music pouring from the door. “This is mushy.” 

I rolled my eyes as we opened the doors. “This is not mushy Mack, its romantic.” 

“Yeah yeah, point me towards the food.” 

I shook my head and laughed. “I guess she is not much of a romantic person.” 

Aiden laughed too. “Guess not, want to sit?” 

“Sure.”: 

We walked over to a table and sat down. Mack joined us with a plate of food, so did Paige and Gavin. 

Eventually Sammy came in too. Looking pissed off. “It’s snowing out there.” 

“It’s snowing? This is California, it doesn’t snow.” 

 

Sammy shook his head. “This is Northern California, it does. And the fact that we are in the middle of an ocean doesn’t really help your cause there Mai.” 

I rolled my eyes heavenward. “Lordy this place is messed up.” 

Mack laughed. “That is my line.” 

Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud came on over the speakers. Sammy stood up and took Mack’s hand. “Come dance with me.” 

She stood up, grabbed another bite of her food and walked after him. “You are interrupting my meal time Sammy!” 

Gavin smiled. “Do you?” 

Paige shook her head. “Not right now. I just want to sit and talk. Plus, I am not an Ed Sheeran fan.” 

Gavin laughed and took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. The two of them chatted quietly while Aiden smiled at me. “Want to dance?” He asked. 

I shook my head. “I am actually afraid to in this dress. I might hurt myself in this dress.” 

“I think it looks great.” 

“Well thanks, but I am not sure about dancing just yet.” 

Ed Sheeran moved on to Nick Jonas’s Chains. Paige jumped up from the table and grabbed Gavin’s hand. 

“So tell me, how long have you liked me like this? And if you say first sight, I am going to pop you.” 

He laughed and shook his head. “Actually, I think it was the day we went and got Ice Cream. There was just something about you that day. Must have been the way the autumn colors made your eyes sparkle.” 

He reached out and rubbed his thumb against my cheek, which made my cheeks flush red. Nick Jonas stops crooning and the DJ comes on. 

“Hello Folks and Happy Valentine’s Day. And special Happy Birthday greeting to Amaia Abbott who is turning 16 years old today.” 

I groaned. “Mack.” 

Aiden laughed and took my hand as Maroon 5 came on. “Come and dance with me, we can trip her while we are out there.” 

“No, because then she will really be hurt and I will feel bad.” 

“Well we could just shoot her a dirty look. How about that?” 

It didn’t really work because when we danced next to them, she was grinning at me. I had to grin back, she was one of my best friends. 

After the song ended, we all made our way back to the able. “I wonder where Damien and Mari are.” Paige asked as she sat down. 

Mack shrugged and dived into her plate again. “I don’t know, but they are missing out on some fun for sure.” 

Aiden helped me sit down and then stepped away. “I will be right back. Gavin, I am going to steal your date for a second.” 

He walked over and took Paige’s hand. She looked confused but went with him. I followed their steps with my eyes until I lost them in the crowd. I looked over at Gavin. “I think my Vampire just stole your date.” 

“And my date just stole your Vampire. Let’s get back at them by dating each other.” 

I laughed and shook my head. “Uh, you are nice Gavin but not my type at all.” 

“Oh well I tried.” He took a sip of the soda he had brought back with him to the table. The two of them came back a few minutes later and after Paige sat, she started whispering to Gavin, and Mack who leaned in close to listen, and then Sammy who Mack grabbed by the shirt front and leaned him forward.” 

“What in the world?” 

Aiden shrugged. “No idea, come and dance with me.” 

“Dance? What-”

I didn’t have time to finish the question, Aiden grabbed my hand and yanked me up just as Hallelujah by Rufus Wainwright started playing. 

He smiled at me, put my hand on his shoulder, wrapped his arm around my waist and started swaying to the time of the music. I had to grab a handful my dress to keep from tripping over it as we danced, which for me, ruined the very sweet moment. 

Aiden didn’t seem to notice, his dark green eyes just bore into mine as we danced. And I have to say, if I had been half in love with him then, I was all the way in love now. When the song finally ended, he stopped me on the edge of the dance floor and lowered his lips to mine. 

And then the lights went out. 

There was dead silence for about 5 seconds and then the screaming started when all the doors slammed shut at once and the auditorium was bathed in a soft red light. Aiden and I rushed back over to the table where the others were standing around it.

“Alright who invited Stephen King?” Mack demanded. 

“I don’t think this is dear old Stephen’s work Mack.” Sammy said as he moved around the table. “This is good old fashioned locked down.” 

A voice cut through the screams. It wasn’t the DJ since his mic couldn’t work without electricity. It was Mr. Connors who shouted. “Everyone sit down! Stop screaming!” 

Once everyone stopped screaming he came to the center of the stage by the DJ Booth. “Now, there has been a breach in security, and there are Vampires on the island. They have cut the power and are currently roaming the island. We have patrols and at this moment, they are rounding them up. As a safety precaution, we have you on lock down. All will be well, just sit and relax.” He walked over to a small group of teachers who were serving as chaperones and started talking to them. 

Sammy was already on his cellphone talking to his dad before Mr. Connors even finished his little speech. After a few terse minutes, he hung up. “He said to stay put. We are safe where we are.” 

“Where are they and how did they get in?” 

“They are in the woods right now and no one knows how they got to the island. But there is a lot of them, so maybe a boat. They are looking.” 

“But my Mom!” Paige cried. “Her house is right by the woods. I have to go check on her.” 

“Me too!” I shouted. 

Sammy shook his head. “We are safe here, just be calm.” 

Which would have been something fairly comforting for Sammy to say, until a loud banging on the doors started making everyone scream. I stood up fast trying to see what was going on when a hand slammed through the door. 

“Well that is enough for me, shall we journey to the exit?” Mack said as she stood up. “Sammy lead the way if you please.” 

It must have been Baran’s lessons seeped into our brain because while everyone else was screaming and running in circles, we walked through the back exit that was not sealed. As we got to the end, we could hear running footsteps and screams. Sammy looked back at us. “Um, anyone bring weapons?” 

There was a second of silence and then Mack said. “I assume you have a gun Sammy boy.” 

“Mack my girl, I never leave home without it. You girls are going to have to kick off your shoes because we are going to have to run. I can run and aim, but I can’t stop to pick anyone up. Aiden, can you help me?” 

Aiden nodded and moved closer to Sammy. Gavin stood up straighter. “I have a knife.” 

“Well that will help. And I will take any.” There was another scream and Sammy took a breath. “Ok we are going.” 

I had kicked off my shoes, but held on in my hand with a bunch of my skirt so I wouldn’t trip and fall. Sammy looked back at us, counted to three, pushed the door opened and started to run. Sammy was shooting as we ran, which was not a popping noise but a loud boom after boom. Aiden and Gavin herded us to the car, while I held my shoe up ready to slam it into someone’s eye. 

It didn’t come to that thankfully, I had a sneaking suspicion that had I done that, I would have dropped my shoe and been dead. We got into the car, Sammy locked all of the doors. There was banging on the doors but Sammy hit a button, there was a spraying sound and then cries. 

“What was that?” Paige yelled. 

“That was platinum spray. Now shut up.” He hit the button on the scanner. Garbled voices and screams came over it like it was an out of tune radio. One voice came in though. “Hey Baran, we have a situation on Clover Court. We need some serious back up, I think we might need an ambulance.” 

“I am dealing with my own shit, do the best you can. I need someone down at the Municipal to get the kids out.” 

“Clover Court is where my Mama lives, Sammy. Take me there please.” 

Paige grabbed his arm. “Mine too. Sammy come on.” 

“I don’t know I-”

Since we had gotten into the car, Sammy wasn’t in the driver’s seat, he was kneeling in the back seat between the bucket seats. I had been sitting on Aiden’s lap in one of the bucket seats. I didn’t even hesitate when he did, I jumped forward, got into the driver’s seat grabbed the car keys from the cup holder where they had been tossed and started the car. 

I put the car in drive and hit the gas. Sammy cried out as he flew backwards, I turned the wheel, skootching down in the seat so I could reach the pedals. Mack screamed as I made a turn too wide and scraped the car against a pole. 

“Baran is going to kill you if you hurt his car Mai.” 

“Shut up Mack.” 

I got out to the main road and hit the gas harder, making the Tahoe roar as we raced down the street. 

There were people everywhere. Some were running, some were chasing. I tried to make sure I didn’t hit anyone since I wasn’t sure who was who. 

I did manage to hit a few trash cans and mailboxes making Sammy groan in the back seat. 

I finally pulled in front of the duplex where Mama and Laura lived. I got out of the car and ran towards the front door. But I stopped. 

I had to stop. 

Because my heart had stopped. 

There was a figure on the porch steps. 

And it wasn’t moving. 

I got out of the car, ignoring the shouts of my friends behind me, actually I could barely hear them with the roaring in my ears. I ran to the front porch and dived to my knees. 

Mama laid stark out on the stairs, her head was near the bottom like she had been pushed from above. Her dark hair was fanned out around her face, with blood in her hair. There was also blood pouring from the gaping wound on her neck. 

My fingers shook as I touched her face gently. “Mama? Mama?” 

Her dark eyes opened a little and she blinked at me. She started to open her mouth and I shook my head. “D-Don’t talk. You are going to be ok. I will take care of you.” I pulled my wrap from my shoulders and pressed it against her neck, trying to stop the blood that was pouring from her neck, she wrapped her hand around my wrist as if to stop me. “Mama, it’s going to be ok, I am right here. Please, please be ok. Please.” 

She smiled a little and her eyes closed again and her hand fell from my wrist. 

Suddenly, there was this keening noise. It was high pitched and sounded like an animal had been hurt. I lifted my head, and looked around trying to find where the noise was coming from. 

And then I realized. 

It was me. I was making the noise. 

I lifted my head, the noise coming louder when I noticed a figure next to the porch. He was tall with dark hair and snapping green eyes. And he was smiling at me, it was a cat-ate-the-canary grin. 

The keening noise stopped and then I started screaming. I grabbed the knife I saw by Mama’s limp hand and jumped to my feet. The Vampire must have seen a look my face because his smile faded and he took off. I screamed louder and took off after him. 

“Amaia no!” I thought I heard Aiden yell after me, but I wasn’t sure. I ran after the Vampire as fast as I my feet would carry me. And strangely, I was catching up to him. And then I was tackling him. The knife was in my hand and blood was spurting up into my face. I was screaming as I stabbed down. 

I screamed louder as arms grabbed me and I tried to stab them with the knife. Then they screamed. 

It was a slap to my face that brought me back. Mack stood in front of me her hand still in the air. “Amaia!” 

The knife fell from my limp fingers on top of what was left of the Vampire at my feet. Aiden was kneeling next to him. “Damn Mai, you did a number on him.” 

I started to shake and tried to speak, but just whimpered. “Aiden, I think she is going into shock. We need to get her back.” 

Aiden nodded and walked over to me. He and Mack wrapped their arms around me and walked me back through the woods. 

“Mai you are so lucky no one chased you into the woods. Most of them were downtown trying to get into the school. Most of the ones up here were stragglers.” 

We walked out of the woods by my house. There was an ambulance in front of the house and Laura was standing next to it. I wrenched myself away from Mack and Aiden and stumbled to Laura, her name falling from my numb lips. She finally looked at me and jumped, I am sure from my appearance. But she walked over to me and put her arms around me. “You ok?” 

I nodded. “Mama?” 

 

“They are bringing her out in a second, you can see her if you want.” 

I turned toward where the EMTs were bringing a sheet covered gurney down the stairs. Laura walked over to them and said something. They stopped it and Laura waved me over. I stumbled over to where they gurney was, pulled back the sheet and looked down at my Mama. She looked like she was sleeping. Except for the blood everywhere. I pulled the sheet down a little more and saw the gold chain and ring that Elizabeth had given her. I wrapped my fingers around the chain and snapped it off her neck. 

I curled it into my fist and then everything went black.


	21. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well! We are at the end of the journey. I am glad I took this journey with all of you! It was fun and exciting! I hope you guys liked this and enjoy the ending. 
> 
> Kudos and comments are LOVE!!!

Weeks had passed since Mama’s death. There had been a funeral that I barely remembered. Elizabeth and Caroline had said they wouldn’t be coming, that they couldn’t get away from where they were, so I was on my own. Well not really, I had Laura, Mari, Paige, Aiden and everyone else. I was so grateful to them for everything. And when it was over, Mama was laid to rest on a grassy knoll in a pretty pine box. 

I had moved into Mama’s half of the duplex. The original plan had been for me to pack things up, but once I got there, I didn’t want to leave. The cats were still there, Mouser had come back a few days after the attack, and he seemed a little worse for the wear and moved into the house with the rest of us. 

Everyone was urging me to come back to school, to the dorms, to talk to them. I didn’t want to. 

Mack had taken to coming over twice a week or so. She would bring food and make me eat, force me to brush my teeth and change my clothes, and sometimes she could even get me to shower. 

She would also get mad and punch me in the arm which left dark bruises, and yell, “You can’t just kill yourself!”

I wasn’t killing myself, I just wanted to just lay on my Mama’s bed and pretend that all was right in the world. 

I had done some research on the internet and it seemed I was suffering from shock and possibly PTSD. The best treatment was Cognitive behavioral therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, and drug treatment. But none of that would bring Mama back to me. I was on my own. 

I think I probably would have lived in the state of half existence forever. 

But something changed it. 

It was March, February had passed by with cold and snow. Mostly with me watching the snow fall. But with the snow dripping from the eaves and rain gutter and some grass popping up, I decided to get up and move around a little. I went into the living room and turned on the Sirius Radio and sat down on the couch. I listened to a few songs from Number one hits when the DJ came on. 

“And now, our number 1 song this week, a loving tribute to Paul Walker and a song from the Fast and Furious 7 soundtrack, Wiz Khalifa’s See You Again featuring Charlie Puth.” 

The opening Piano strains filled the room and Charlie’s voice filled the room with the opening words. “It’s been a long day without you, my friend. And I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again. We’ve come a long way from where we began. Oh I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again. When I see you again.” 

Wiz Khalifa started rapping and I felt my frozen body break apart. I started screaming. I scared the shit out of the cats who leapt from the couch and darted down the hall. I grabbed my hair by the handfuls and kept screaming. 

 

Laura had called Aiden when she heard the screaming. She had tried to get in but all the doors had been locked, even the swinging wall. She called him again on his way down to the duplex that the screaming had stopped, and she was scared. 

He parked the Focus in front of the house and got out. He walked slowly up the stairs and got the front door. He grabbed the knob and turned it, it was locked. He took a breath and twisted it hard. The lock snapped and the door opened. A black mound streaked past him and almost made him fall on his ass. He bit his lip and opened the door more. “Amaia?” 

There was no sound as he walked into the house, except for the faint strains of music playing from the back. He walked down the hall, there was no sign of her. He peered into the bathroom since the door was opened and the light on. There was something dark in the sink. He stepped into the bathroom and went to the sink and lifted it. It was hair. Dark curly hair. Amaia’s hair. 

“Oh god. Amaia!” 

He ran down the hallway, he looked into her bedroom but it was empty. He looked into the next room and saw a form laying on the bed, a laptop was playing the new Wiz Khalifa song. He stepped into the room and moved toward the bed. She was laying on her stomach, head on her arms. Her long hair that had fallen almost to waist was gone. It was now just to her shoulders. “What happened to your hair?” He asked softly. 

“I cut it.” 

“Ok…why?” 

“I needed a change.” 

“I see.” He sat down next to her and tapped the laptop to pause the video. “Mai, you just scared Laura half out of her wits. You are scaring me, and everyone else for that matter.” 

“I am sorry.” 

“Stop being sorry and do something about it.” 

She sighed softly. “I need a shower.” 

“Good you stink.” 

 

After my shower, I found Aiden sitting on the couch. He looked up at me. “Look, I need to talk to you. You haven’t been in the right frame of mind to talk about it, but now that you are at least upright, we need to talk.” 

I sat down next to him. “I don’t want to talk. I want to find out what happened to my Mama.”

“Well what I have to say might help you out with that. Paige found something on that flash drive. It might give us a few clues. I want to talk to you about it.” 

I nodded and bit my lip. “Ok.” 

He sighed softly and sat up a little to pull the flash drive from his pocket. “Paige and I were going over this, you know we have been working on odds and ends here and there. And that the other night, we needed a new flash drive and I told you to hold onto it for dear life?” 

I nodded and stared at the time black square. “How did you find it?” 

He smirked at me. “It wasn’t hard, you are not much of a hider. Well I am sure you are, but I am a better finder.” 

I blew out a breath and shook my head. The newly shortened hair brushed against my cheeks a little. He frowned a little and touched one of the uneven strands. “So what did you find on it?” 

He leaned over the couch and pulled a bag up. He pulled out a sheaf of papers and handed them to me. I looked over the weird words and phrases. It took me a minute and then I shot him a dirty look. “Encoded are they?” 

He looked sheepish and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah but that was what was pretty much on the flash drive, we managed to figure out a couple of things. Though, second page.” 

I flipped to the second page. From what I could read, it was some garbled texts and calls that had come in from weird numbers. Most of the messages though didn’t appear to have a phone number attached. “Ok….why are there no phone numbers?” 

“Well because the phone that made that call, or recived it doesnt have a registered phone number.” 

“Please every cellphone has a phone number.” 

“Because they have a sim card.” 

“But the only person that has no sim card is….” 

 

He said nothing, just stared at me. 

I shook my head. “You don’t think-no no. Come on Aiden.” 

He rolled his eyes, which I thought was the wrong thing at this moment. “Aiden!” 

“No. God no I don’t think Paige has anything to do with it, but some of these calls were made when Mack was in the hospital, so whoever had access to that room in that time was able to get to Paige’s phone.” 

“God Aiden that could be anyone. We had Mari in and out of there, with Damien. You, Sammy.” 

He put his hands up. “Hey now, I am bringing evidence to you, count me out.” 

I rolled my eyes. “My point is, as I said, it could be anyone.” 

He nodded. “I have some things I need to do, so I am going to go. But Sammy and I are going to come over later and talk to you about an idea we have. For now, take a nap.” 

I sighed softly and nodded. “Fine.” 

 

I went back to my bedroom and flopped onto the bed. I was tired, because of course I had not been sleeping. But this time, once my head hit the pillow, I was out. 

And I dreamt again. 

I was standing in the middle of a huge hallway. There were arched doorways with torches on the wall. I turned to look around, trying to figure out where I was when I saw a dark haired figure walking down the hall. I ran after it, yelling at it to wait, stop, and please talk to me. The figure finally stopped, I ran up and touched the figure’s shoulder. As it turned I fell back in shock, it was Mama. I opened my mouth to speak, when the skin started to melt off of Mama’s face, as it did, she started to scream. “Run run! Follow the map! RUN!” 

When there was nothing but bones left, they started to clatter to the ground, still screaming. 

I jerked awake and landed in Aiden’s arms. I was shaking so hard, and my heart was pounding so loud I could hardly hear him. He stroked my hair gently and pulled me back from his chest. “Amaia? Are you ok? What happened?” 

I sucked in a breath. “We need to go. We need to run.” 

He nodded. “I will take care of it.” 

 

Much later, a sudden jolt woke me up from my light sleep. I looked over at Aiden who was in the bench seat next to me, looked up from his laptop. “You ok? We just got onto the ferry.” 

I nodded and sat up a little bit. “How long have I been sleeping and how did I get into the car?” 

He sighed and shut the laptop. “You have been sleeping about four hours, and I carried you obviously.” 

Mack turned from her seat in the front next to Sammy. “Your boyfriend is pretty strong Mai. You didn’t even wake up when he picked you up.” 

Paige was sitting on the bucket seat behind Mack a book opened in her lap; Mari sat next her in the other bucket seat. Damien was conspicuously missing, but when I opened my mouth to say something to Aiden, he shook his head almost violently. 

I nodded and said nothing. Obviously something else had been found on the flash drive that no one else knew about. Possibly Paige, but she was bent over her book and I didn’t want to try and get her attention. 

I peered out the darkened windows and sighed softly. Once again on the Ferry heading for someplace. I had never had so many upheavals in my life. 

Aiden must have seen the pensive look on my face because he closed his laptop. “I think it’s time you guys.” 

Sammy turned the car into a parking spot. “Ok then, let’s do this.” He said after he put it in park. 

“Do what?” I asked. 

Aiden smiled. “You will see, come on get out.” He gave me a little push and I stumbled between the two bucket seats where Paige had opened the door. 

I stepped out the door and immediately wrapped my arms around myself. “YIE! It’s freezing out here!”

Mack laughed as she climbed out. “Well duh. Its winter and we are in the middle of the ocean.” She went to the back of the car and opened the back hatch. There were a few bags and supplies hanging around but mostly in the back were weapons. Mack pulled out a blanket and wrapped it around my shoulders. “Come on. We have something to show you.” We walked toward the back of the Ferry, the sky taking on an inky black color with small white stars dotting it. When we got to the stern, I leaned against the railing. “So what are we doing here?” 

Aiden set his laptop on the bench. I had not noticed that he had it with him while we had been walking. “Well, we figured, you haven’t gotten a good chance to say goodbye to your mom. So we are going to help you out.” 

“Uh guys, if you dug up her body…” 

Mack shook her head. “No no, God no nothing like that.” She took a step back and gestured to a garbage bag that Paige was carrying. “I thought of something better.” She walked over to the bag and pulled out a small paper wrapped object. 

“Uh, what is that?” 

She smiled as I walked over to her. “This is a Sky Lantern. I thought it would be fun for each of us to light one and send it to the sky. You can give your mom a proper send off. So to speak.” 

Paige smiled and pulled out another one. “Aiden has your mom’s favorite Celine song ready to play too! Come on Mai.” She handed me one of the lanterns. I curled my fingers around the edge. My heart ached, for missing my Mama and for having such friends that would understand me like this. I couldn’t talk from the lump but I nodded my head and pushed off the blanket with my shoulders. I turned back to the railing while someone had walked back over to the laptop and pressed play. The opening tunes of ‘It's All Coming Back To Me Now’ started to play behind me. I took a breath and walked to the railing. Aiden came and stood next to me as the song rose. “I finished crying in the instant that you left. And I can't remember where or when or how. And I banished every memory you and I had ever made.” I smiled at Aiden as he used a lighter to light the small circle under the paper. 

I smiled as everything was illuminated. Aiden wrapped his hands around my wrist and with a gentle push, we sent the lantern up into the sky. Three other lanterns followed it and then ten. After a few minutes, Aiden handed me another one. This one was decorated with pretty white lace and pink trim, it also had a small picture of Mama painted on it. I sighed softly and lit the small circle again. 

I held it in my hands for a second and climbed onto the railing. “I think we all need to send this one off.” I said softly. 

They must have heard me though because I felt the railing shift as everyone climbed onto it. Each hand reached out to touch the white lantern and with a gentle push, we pushed the lantern into the sky to join its mates. As the Ferry pulled further away from the island a trail of lights followed behind us and I let the tears fall. It was like Mama was lighting my path forward, like she was showing me the way. 

 

 

 

2000 miles away, Elizabeth, Anthony and Caroline sat in the living room of Anthony’s house when Elizabeth heard her phone ring. 

She pulled it out of her purse and frowned at the ID. She tapped the screen and brought it up to her ear. “Hello? What? Oh my god. No, no that is not necessary. Yes thank you.” 

She hung up the phone, her face pale. “The kids are gone!” 

 

“What? Where did they go?” Anthony demanded. 

“I don’t know! Baran said they left this morning and didn’t say anything just that Sammy wanted to borrow his car.” 

Anthony looked down at his own phone as it beeped. “We r fine, we need to find answers. Don’t worry.” 

Anthony showed Elizabeth the text and she sighed. She pulled the papers out of her pocket and looked at them. “They are going to need help. Call them Anthony, give them an idea of where to go. Hopefully we will beat them there.” 

Caroline stood up. “I guess we are going on our own road trip.”


End file.
